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PATENT GRANTED TO THE AUTHOR 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



INVENTING 
FOR BOYS 



v 



BY 



A^FREDERICK COLLINS 

INVENTOR OF THE WIRELESS TELEPHONE 

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND 
DIAGRAMS 




NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



f4* 



Copyright, 1916, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All rights reserved 



NOV -7 i3!6 
©CI.A445538 




TO 

JOHN ROLLER COLLINS 

A THINKER OF THOUGHTS 

NEW AND NOVEL 



A WORD TO THE BOY 

Every boy is a born inventor. 

And since you are a boy it follows as the night the 
day that you have your share of inventive ability and 
you ought to make good use of it. 

To find out some new way of making or doing a 
thing — for this is what inventing means — is the 
most fascinating game that I know of to take up a 
fellow's time and thought and energy. 

You may say how about wireless, or star-gazing, 
or baseball, or shooting, or chess, or any one of a 
dozen other pastimes and sports and I shall be bound 
to admit that all of them are highly entertaining and 
some of them instructive but inventing is all that the 
others are and besides it is constructive while they 
are not. 

By constructive I mean that you take an idea that 
had its origin in your brain and this vague, in- 
tangible conception, which takes up no space, has no 
weight and is not bound by time, you build up step 
by step of wood and steel and like materials until at 
last you have created something out of nothing, or as 
nearly as it can be done. 

To watch your invention grow, especially if you 
build it with your own hands, from the time you make 



PREFACE 

the first rough sketch of your idea until it stands com- 
pleted and in working order, gives you a wonderful 
feeling of pride and satisfaction for you are the 
creator of it and this means that you are more than 
a mere boy, greater than an ordinary man — that you 
are in very truth a demi-god. 

These are the real pleasures of inventing but to 
make a success of it you have to drop back to earth 
again and take up the mean, the sordid part, and that 
is to try to make money out of it. And if you have 
an invention of merit you will have to forget that 
you are a demi-god and become a hard and fast mortal 
again or it will not be long before some other body 
owns it lock, barrel and stock ; and then you will have 
a chance to start another idea rolling and to build up 
another invention. 

In this book I have tried to point out to you not 
only how to invent, but how to make money out of 
your invention as well, and so, I say unto you, from 
the moment the big idea strikes you be as gentle as 
a dove and as wise as a serpent, to the end that your 
days as an inventor may be long and that any profits 
which may accrue from your invention will be yours 
instead of some one's else. And now may peace be 
with you. 

A. Frederick Collins. 
Lyndon Arms, 

524 Riverside Drive, 
New York Citv. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface vii 

I. GETTING AN IDEA i 

How to Get an Idea 
The First Raw Idea. — Accidental Discoveries. — 
Thought out Ideas. — Reading up Your Subject. 

— Working out Ideas by Experiment — Ideas for 
Inventions in General. — Ideas for Mechanical 
Inventions. — Ideas for Electrical Inventions. — 
Ideas for Electro-Mechanical Inventions. — Ideas 
for Chemical Inventions. — Ideas for Electro- 
Chemical Inventions. 

Protecting Your Raw Ideas 

II. WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER ...... 19 

Tools for Making Simple Drawings 
How to Make Simple Working Drawings 
A Simple Way to Draw in Perspective 

How to Make Isometric Paper. — Drawing Tools 

you Need. 
How to Draw Isometric Ellipses 

An Easy, Rough Way and a Hard, Accurate Way. 
How to Shade Drawings 
How to Make Electrical Symbols 
How to Read Electrical Diagrams 
Some Aids to Drawing 
Making Cardboard Models 

III. THE STATE OF THE ART 45 

What is Meant by the State of the Art 

Use of the State of the Art 

How to Learn the State of the Art 

Having a Patent Attorney Look It Up 

How to Look It Up Yourself 

What to Do When You Find 

(a) There are no other improvements like yours. 

— (b) That there is a resemblance to yours. — 
(c) When others are exactly like yours. 

ix 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IV. HOW TO EXPERIMENT 58 

How to Experiment with Machines 
Work, Energy and Power. — Work Against Fric- 
tion. — Forms of Energy. 

Machines and the Principles of Machinery 

The Uses of Machines 

The Six Mechanical Powers 

Compound Machines. — Books 

How to Experiment with Electricity 

Forms of Electricity 
Static Electricity. — Current Electricity. — Mag- 
netism. — Radiation. 

Your Electrical Equipment.— Books 

How to Experiment with Chemistry 

Your Chemical Equipment.— Books 

How to Experiment with Electro-Chemistry 

V. MAKING A MODEL 91 

Kinds of Models 

Rough Models. — Scale Models. — Working 

Models. 
Ways to Make a Model 

Making a Model Y'ourself . — Having a Model 

Maker Make It. 
The Tools You Need 

The Vernier. — The Micrometer. — A and S Wire 

Gage. — Drill Press. — Screw Cutting Lathe. 
Buying Materials 
About Making Patterns 
Casting in Brass and Iron 

VI. HOW TO PATENT YOUR INVENTION ... 112 
What a Patent Is 
Choosing a Patent Attorney 
Applying for a Patent Yourself 
Applying for a Patent Through a Patent At- 
torney 
What You May Patent 
Looking Ahead 



CONTENTS xi 

chapter page 

What a Patent Consists of 
The Petition. — The Drawings. — The Specifica- 
tions.— The Claims.— The Oath. 

While Your Patent is Pending 

Interference 

When Your Patent is Granted 

About Paper Patents 
VII. MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY .... 131 

How to Raise the Initial Funds 

About an Interest in a Patent 
Royalties, Shop Rights, etc. 

Forming a Partnership 

Where the Promoter Comes in 

What a Stock Company Is 

How a Stock Company Is Organized 
The Fees of the State.— Outfit Needed. 

How a Stock Company Is Operated 

About Retaining a Lawyer 
VIII. SOME HINTS OF MANUFACTURING ... 146 

Problems of Manufacturing 
Farming out the Work. — Starting Your Own 
Shop. — Buying Machine Tools. — Buying the 
Stock, — Organizing a Shop Force. — The Stock 
Room. — The Finished Product. — Overhead 
Charges. 

Where Your Profits Come in 
IX. PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 166 

How Best to Do It 

Agents Wanted. — The Mail Order Business. — 
A Series of Follow-Up Letters. — Selling Through 
Sales Agents. — Selling Direct from Factory to 
Consumer. — Selling Through the Trade. 

Getting Publicity 

Advertising 
X. THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 180 

Some Little Things Needed 
For the Person. — For the House. — For the 
Farm. — For the Office. — For Fun. 



xii CONTENTS 

chapter page 

Some Big Inventions Needed 
Safety First — Automobiles. — Aviation. — Chem- 
istry. — Electricity. — Electro-Chemistry. — Build- 
ing. — Mining and Metallurgy. — Printing. — Mov- 
ing Pictures. 

What Not To Invent 

XL WHAT SOME INVENTIONS HAVE PAID . . 200 

A Tour of the Inventive World 

Little Inventions 

Simple Inventions 

Real Inventions 

Great Inventions 
The Steam Engine, Locomotive, and Steam- 
boat. — The Telegraph. — The Perfecting Press. — 
The Sewing Machine. — The Ice Machine. — The 
Steel Process. — The Gas Engine. — The Dynamo 
and Motor. — The Air Brake. — The Telephone. — 
The Typewriter. — The Phonograph. — The Stor- 
age Battery. — The Snap-shot Camera. — The 
Steam Turbine. — The Automobile. — The In- 
candescent Light. — The Trolley Car. — The Elec- 
tric Locomotive. — The Linotype. — Moving Pic- 
tures. — The Wireless Telegraph. — The Wireless 
Telephone. — The Aeroplane. 

XII. PROFITABLE INFORMATION ...... 216 

Design Patents 

Assignments 

Caveats 

Patent Office Fees 

Trade Marks 

Copyrights 

Government Fees for Patents and Least Charges 

of Patent Attorneys 
Foreign Patents 
APPENDICES 229-252 

SOME WORDS and Terms Used in This Book . . 253-260 
INDEX 261-270 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Patent granted to the author Frontispiece 

A popular idea of an inventive genius 2 

Where the big idea really originates 3 

A model self-inking printing press 9 

A velocipede scroll saw with boring attachment .... 10 

A standard single cylinder air pump 11 

A horizontal steam engine 12 

A fireless cooker 13 

A loud speaking telephone largely used on ship-board . . 14 

A common electric bell 15 

An ordinary telegraph sounder 16 

A telautograph 17 

The gyro compass of a ship 18 

A twelve inch rule 19 

A pair of cheap compasses 19 

An isometric perspective drawing of a box 20 

Top, side and end view of same 20 

Cross-section of same; drawing of hook 21 

Side view of a steam engine 22 

End view of same 23 

Top view of same 24 

Cross-section of same 24 

The side valve shown in detail 25 

An isometric perspective drawing of a steam engine ... 25 

A sheet of isometric drawing paper 26 

First step in isometric perspective drawing 27 

The next step in isometric perspective drawing .... 27 

A crank shaft drawn on isometric paper 28 

A drawing board; a triangular scale 29 

A set of inexpensive drawing instruments; a protractor . 30 

The position of the protractor on paper 31 

The proportion of an isometric ellipse 32 

xiii 



xiv ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

How ellipses stand out in relief 33 

How an isometric ellipse is drawn 34 

Shading and lettering chart for drawings 35 

Chart of electrical symbols 37, 3^ 

A simple wiring diagram 39 

Aids to drawing a manikin ; proportions drawn on cross- 
section paper; trial positions of manikin .... 40-42 

Cardboard model of a gyro engine 44 

The Official Gazette ; Patent specifications ; Index to Patents 53 

A lever of the first class ; a pair of pliers 63 

A lever of the second class ; wire splicing clamps .... 63 

A lever of the third class; a pair of sugar tongs .... 64 

A bent lever 65 

A compound lever 65 

Wheel and axle 66 

A train of wheels or wheel works 66 

A fixed pulley 67 

An incline plane and one of its uses 67 

A simple wedge; a printer's quoin 68 

The theory of a screw; a screw clamp 68 

Some useful mechanical movements 70-73 

A steady direct current; an interrupted direct current; a 
pulsating direct current; an alternating current; alternat- 
ing current changed into an interrupted direct current; 
a periodic oscillating current; a sustained oscillating cur- 
rent 76-78 

Some useful electro-mechanical devices 80-81 

An ammeter; a voltmeter 82 

A resistance box 83 

Side and end view of a winding device . 84 

Making a ruby by chemistry ; ruby boules as they come from 

the furnace; synthetic rubies after they are cut . . . 85 

Some useful chemical apparatus 87 

An electric furnace showing parts and in operation . . 88-89 

Rough model of an electric motor drive for a locomotive . 92 

A scale model of an aeroplane 93 

A toy helicopter 94 

A working model of a locomotive 95 

Some useful jewelers' and machinists' tools 101 



ILLUSTRATIONS xv 

PAGE 

A small hand drill press 102 

A foot power screw-cutting lathe 103 

A vernier for accurate measurement 103 

A micrometer 105 

A standard wire gage 106 

Useful stock materials made by automatic machinery . . 107 

A standard for a telegraph sounder 109 

Pouring a mould no 

Rules of Practice of the Patent Office 116 

A page of drawings 121 

Specification of one of Mr. Collins' patents 123 

The Claims of the same patent 123 

The U. S. Patent Office, Washington, D. C 129 

Certificate of Incorporation 139 

Stock certificate 141 

A seal press 142 

A gas furnace 150 

A grinder and polisher 151 

A plain lathe for turning metal with hand tools .... 152 

An engine lathe 153 

Pillar type of power drill 154 

A planer for surfacing metal work 154 

A shaper for shaping up metal work 155 

A universal milling machine 156 

A jig saw 157 

A band saw 158 

A time stamp 162 

A high frequency machine 163 

From manufacturer to canvasser, to consumer .... 167 

From manufacturer to order agent, to consumer .... 169 

From manufacturer to his agent, to consumer . . ■ . . 172 

Selling direct from factory to consumer 173 

Selling through the trade 174 

Old style and improved tooth brush 182 

The old and the new way in sweeping carpets 183 

A labor saving painting machine 184 

A quick figuring and bookkeeping machine 185 

A rubber dagger 186 

Bumping-the-bumps 187 



xvi ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

A novel, life-saving gun 188 

The Owen magnetic clutch 189 

A gyro stabilizer 189 

A liquid air machine 190 

The cheapest form of light 190 

A tube system of electric light 191 

The high tension electric generator 192 

Cutting steel girders with oxy-acetylene 193 

Apparatus for prevention of mine disasters 194 

A steel plate engraving machine 195 

An attempt to improve the movies 196 

Tesla's tower at Wardencliffe, L. I . . . 197 

A perpetual motion machine 198 

Perpetual motion as seen by a patent attorney 199 

The first telephone 205 

The first typewriter 206 

The first phonograph 207 

The first incandescent light 210 

Collins wireless telephone 214 

Design patent 216 

A registered trade mark 220 

Application blank for copyright of a book .... 2.22-22$ 

Cross-section of gear 238 

The four chief thermometric scales 251 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 

CHAPTER I 
GETTING AN IDEA 

Almost every one has had, at some time or other an 
idea for a new invention or of how some old device 
could be improved. 

To get an original idea for an invention is in itself a 
mark of genius, but it is not enough to make it a suc- 
cess and if you do not know how to develop it you are 
almost certain to give up before you have completed 
it. 

And to give up a good idea and then find that some 
one else has thought of the same thing later, worked it 
up and made money out of it gives a fellow a most un- 
comfortable feeling about what might have been. 

Now my purpose is not to tell you what to invent as 
much as it is to tell you how to invent and, if when 
you get an idea that you believe worth while you will 
follow it up step by step as I have outlined in this book 
you will at least save yourself time, worry and money 
and you stand a chance of winning fame, glory, and a 
bank account. 

How to Get an Idea. — There is only one way to 



2 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

invent a new thing or to make an improvement on 
something that has already been invented and that is to 
get an idea. 

And what, you may wonder, is an idea ? It is easy 
to say that it is a notion that comes into your head, or 
a thought that springs into your mind. But I doubt if 




Fig. I. A POPULAR IDEA of an inventive genius 

even a psychologist could explain just what an idea is 
or how one originates in the mind any more than a 
biologist could tell how the germ of life is retained in 
a seed and how it grows when it is planted. 

One good thing about an idea, though, is that we 
don't have to know what the mysterious thing is or 
how it springs into being in the mind. In this way an 
idea is very much like electricity — we don't know ex- 
actly what it is but we do know a good deal about how 
it works and this is enough for our present purpose. 



GETTING AN IDEA 3 

The First Raw Idea. — There are several ways by 
which you may get an idea for an invention but in any 
case the first raw idea, or inductive discovery, as it is 
called in philosophy, must and does come from some- 
thing outside the mind, something that you have seen, 
heard, smelled, tasted or felt, and when your mind is 

THE BIG IDEA 
FORMS HERE 




FlG. 2. WHERE THE BIG IDEA REALLY ORIGINATES 

in the right condition to receive an idea of this kind 
you will know it when it comes and grasp it very 
quickly, that is if you are a real inventor. 

There are many kinds of raw, or original ideas and 
they show themselves in various ways. You may get 
a very vague idea of an invention, or of an improve- 
ment, or it may be a clean cut one on the jump ; it may 
be a very valuable idea or it may be a wholly worth- 
less one, but it is generally easy after you get one to 
enlarge upon it, as we shall presently see, and to 



4 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

build up in the mind's eye a structure so that you can 
guess pretty nearly whether you will have a palace, an 
architectural monstrosity or a chicken-coop when it is 
done. 

A first, or raw idea may come to a fellow, who is on 
inventing bent, in any one of several ways but chiefly 
when (i) he is conjuring up in his mind something 
which he has seen or heard; (2) when something hap- 
pens by accident which shows him an effect or a re- 
sult that is new, and (3) when he is looking at or 
working on some device or machine ; and this last way 
is the one that is most productive of ideas for useful 
improvements. 

As an example of getting an idea behold a young 
man rocking in a chair with closed eyes ; he is thinking 
of nothing in particular but of a good many things 
quite vaguely. A thought of his sister packing her 
trunk — in the way a woman usually packs a trunk — 
comes into his mind and then an idea strikes him that 
it would be a good scheme for a trunk to have drawers 
in it like a bureau. The result of this raw idea is the 
wardrobe trunk as we know it to-day. 

Accidental Discoveries. — Once in a long while 
some one hits upon an invention purely by accident. 

A good illustration which covers the point was the 
discovery of vulcanized rubber. The story goes that 
Charles Goodyear happened to drop some crude rubber 
and sulphur on a hot stove at the same time with the 
result that it was made much stronger and more elastic 
than before. 



GETTING AN IDEA 5 

Experiment showed that the vulcanized rubber could 
be made as soft or as hard as desired by using more or 
less sulphur and applying more or less heat. From 
this discovery of Goodyear 's has sprung the gigantic 
rubber industry of to-day. 

Discoveries of this kind were often made in the early 
days of invention but the principles which underlie all 
of the sciences are now so well known that invention 
itself has been brought down to a scientific basis; and 
instead of inventors being long-haired, dreaming 
Micawbers they are generally men of education and 
genius too, trained along the lines they are working 
in and who look like clean-cut business men; and if 
they are successful inventors you may depend upon 
it they are business men. 

When I say that they are men of learning I do not 
mean that it takes a college professor to be a big in- 
ventor; indeed very few college professors have the 
genius to be inventors and too many inventors have too 
little knowledge along the line in which they are work- 
ing. Of the two genius is the greatest for it is bred in 
the bone while any one can educate himself. 

To make the point clear here are three famous men 
of genius and who were largely self-taught. 

Faraday who made the dynamo and motor possible 
was a poor, uneducated boy with a burning thirst for 
knowledge when he was apprenticed to Davy at the 
Royal Institution in London. Edison had about as lit- 
tle schooling as the law allows, but he taught himself 
science and he now stands head and shoulders above 



6 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

all the rest of the great inventors. And Marconi, a 
young fellow of 23, invented the wireless telegraph 
while the greatest scientists of the world could not do 
it until he showed them how. 

Thought Out Ideas. — There are very few inven- 
tions which are complete when the first idea of it comes 
into the mind, but instead nearly all of them require 
thinking out, or deductive proof as it is called in phil- 
osophy. 

This second process of thinking consists of turning 
the raw idea over and over in your mind so that you 
can judge whether it is good or not, how it will work 
out and other things about it, and to do this you must 
know as many of the facts relating to it as you can 
and when you have these all clear and catalogued in 
your mind your idea then takes on the aspect of an in- 
vention. 

The two usual ways to get the needed facts are ( 1 ) 
to read up on the subject, and (2) to experiment along 
the line of your idea. Of course if it is your regular 
work that has called forth your first idea it is quite 
likely you will have all of the facts you need to go 
ahead and work the thing out; but if your idea is about 
a device, or a machine, or a compound you know noth- 
ing of your best plan is to read up on the subject and 
follow up your reading by making a number of ex- 
periments. 

Reading up Your Subject. — In this day of public 
libraries it is easy to get books on any subject unless it 
is one on sunsets and sunsets don't count in inventing 



GETTING AN IDEA 7 

— in fact nothing counts except the big idea, a shop 
or a laboratory to develop it in and burning the mid- 
night incandescent light. 

It doesn't matter very much what invention you are 
working on you ought to read a first book on physics 
and one on chemistry and what's more you should 
study them if you expect to ever invent anything of 
magnitude. 

A book on physics tells all you need to know in 
the beginning about matter, force, motion, the princi- 
ples of machines, the mechanics of liquids and gases, 
electricity and magnetism, sound, heat and light. 

Suppose you have an idea for an electrical device, if 
you will read the chapters on electricity and magnetism 
in your book of physics you will learn what you ought 
to know first about these subjects and then if you need 
to go deeper you can get a more advanced book. 

A book of the elements of chemistry tells about gases, 
acids, alkalies and metals and of their chemical 
changes, and you will find a little knowledge of chem- 
istry of considerable use in working out many ideas. 
There are many books of physics and chemistry but 
Avery's Elements of Physics published by the Ameri- 
can Book Company of New York, and Remsens Ele- 
ments of Chemistry published by Henry Holt and Com- 
pany of New York are good books for a beginner to 
read. 

Working Out Ideas by Experiment. — Though 
you may think long and hard and read everything you 
can find that has a bearing on your great idea, you will 



8 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

soon reach a point where you feel you would like to 
try it out, that is to build it up in reality so that you 
can see if it will do the work you want it to do or if it 
won't do the work where the trouble comes in. 

Generally speaking if it is a mechanical or an electro- 
mechanical scheme you begin by drawing this brain- 
child of yours on paper and then you make a model, 
or try to, and you add to it, take away from it, tear it 
down sometimes and at others you scrap it and build 
an entirely new one. 

But usually it is some one part that needs patience 
and effort and skill put upon it and as you try out 
idea after idea, plan after plan and scheme after scheme 
you are not only almost sure to find just what you are 
looking for but very often experimental work will lead 
you to fresh ideas for other and even more important 
improvements. 

Another curious thing I have found about experi- 
menting is this : you may start out on a certain line 
and find that the result you want is so hard to get it 
seems hopeless to go ahead. Now if you quit it is all 
off but if you go on and on trying everything you can 
think of, keeping up your belief that the thing you are 
striving for must come and in your own ability to do 
that which you want to do, after long hours, or days, 
or weeks of constant work the result will come to you 
like a flash and just as though the guardian angel of 
invention hovered over you and put the desired thing 
right into your mind and hand. The moral is that 



GETTING AN IDEA 9 

everything comes to the inventor who keeps on ex- 
perimenting and does not give up. 

Ideas for Inventions in General. — Inventions may 
be divided into three general classes and these are ( 1 ) 
mechanical, (2) electrical and (3) chemical ; and there 
are combinations of these classes as (a) electromechan- 
ical and (b) electro-chemical inventions and your idea 
may come under the head of any one of them. 

Ideas for Mechanical Inventions. — Inventions of 




FlG. 3. A MODEL SELF-INKING PRINTING PRESS 

a mechanical kind include nearly everything in the 
broad domain of physics but the term mechanical inven- 
tions is applied especially to devices that are worked 
by means of pendulums, springs, weights, levers, 
wheels and axles, pulleys and inclined planes, screws 
and pistons and which have to do with force and mo- 
tion. 



io INVENTING FOR BOYS 

To work out an idea for a mechanical device if the 
latter is a fairly simple one, as a printing press, see Fig. 
3, or a scroll saw, see Fig. 4, should not be a very hard 
thing to do because all of the parts can be easily seen 




FlG. 4. A VELOCIPEDE SCROLL SAW WITH BORING ATTACHMENT 

and if you add a few parts to it and it does not work 
the fault can be readily picked and the part that is caus- 
ing the trouble can be redesigned and changed until 
the whole device is made operative. 

Of course if the machine is a more complicated af- 
fair in which there are pistons, valves and the like as in 
an air-pump, see Fig. 5, or an ordinary engine, see Fig. 



GETTING AN IDEA 



11 



6, it is liable to develop internal — or perhaps infernal 
would be more fitting — troubles that are sometimes 
very pertinacious and hard to overcome. 

The easiest and best paying way to begin a career of 
inventing is to hit on an idea to improve some simple 
device that either makes for safety or for saving, for 
convenience or for lessening mental or manual labor. 




FlG. 5- A STANDARD SINGLE CYLINDER AIR PUMP 

But if you should happen to get an idea for something 
big and hard don't give it the go-by, but follow it up 
along the lines which I have indicated in this book and 
you will stand a pretty good chance of finally work- 
ing it out to a successful conclusion. 

Ideas for Electrical Inventions. — Ideas for inven- 
tions in which electricity and magnetism are used are 
generally harder to work out than those of a purely 
mechanical kind for the reason that the cause in the 
first case which produces the result you want cannot be 



12 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

seen, whereas the cause in the second case which sets up 
the effect you want is always visible. 

But electrical inventions are like mechanical inven- 
tions in that they may be very simple, such as passing a 
current through the heating element of an electric 
cooker as shown in Fig. 7, or it may be quite a com- 
plex piece of apparatus as for instance a loud speaking 




Fig. 6. a horizontal steam engine 

telephone for use on ship-board as shown in Fig. 8. 
Where an electric current is used for some simple de- 
vice a thorough knowledge of electricity may not be 
necessary but if your invention requires that a low 
voltage current be changed into high frequency oscilla- 
tions which are in turn varied by the voice and these 
oscillations are sent out from an aerial wire, all of 
which is done in a wireless telephone, I should say 
that you ought to have a pretty fair understanding of 
the theory of electricity before you begin your experi- 



GETTING AN IDEA 13 

ments — that is if you expect to develop your invention 
into an apparatus of utility and hence of worth. 

Ideas for Electro-Mechanical Inventions. — 
There are many devices that are partly electrical and 
partly mechanical, the operation of the one actuating 
the other and the other way about. 




FlG. 7. A FIRELESS COOKER. THE HEAT IS WHERE YOU WANT IT 

The electric bell, see Fig. 9, and the telegraph 
sounder, see Fig. 10, are types of simple electro-me- 
chanical devices, while the telautograph, see Fig. 11, 
and the electrical gyroscopic compass for use on ship- 
board, see Fig. 12, are examples of the more complex 
electro-mechanical devices. 

To work out an idea by bringing both mechanics and 
electricity to bear in the same device often makes the 
work much easier for sometimes the armature of an 
electromagnet or the plunger of a solenoid will oper- 



H 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



ate to a better advantage than a combination of levers. 
But to use mechanics and electricity in the same de- 
vice you must of course have a knowledge of them 
both. 

Ideas for Chemical Inventions. — There is another 
class of ideas which require neither mechanics nor elec- 
tricity for their working out. They are chemical com- 
pounds. 




Fig. 8. a loud speaking telephone largely used on ship-board 

Suppose an idea comes to you to make a chemical 
solution for erasing ink, or to make a new high ex- 
plosive. While the idea might be a good one you 
would have a long road to travel if you began experi- 
menting and had no knowledge of chemistry and your 
road in the latter case would probably be straight up. 

Trying out chemical compounds without knowing 
something of the reactions they produce is far more 
wasteful of time and money than puttering around with 



GETTING AN IDEA 



15 



mechanical and electrical devices, especially when one's 
line of business is selling ribbons, and besides it's more 
or less dangerous too. 

Should you get an idea for making an explosive 
more powerful than any yet invented, either dish the 
idea or pave the way by taking a course in advanced 




Fig. 9. A COMMON ELECTRIC bell 

chemistry and even then your idea is liable to perish 
with you. Better let the Maxims or the du Ponts do 
it. 

Ideas for Electrochemical Inventions. — Just as 
there are ideas that call for the use of mechanics and 
electricity in a single device so there are ideas for 
processes that combine both chemistry and electricity. 

The action of a common dry cell is electrochemical 
and so is electroplating. But there are a large number 
of chemicals and chemical substances that are pro- 



16 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

duced by electricity such as nitric acid from the air, 
calcium carbide from which acetylene gas is made, 
carborundum which is used as an abrasive in the place 
of emery, and then there is the electrolytic refining of 
copper, the manufacture of aluminum, besides a whole 
string of other electrochemical inventions. 




FlG. 10. AN ORDINARY TELEGRAPH SOUNDER 

While it is quite safe to work along electrochemical 
lines still it takes a considerable amount of technical 
knowledge in these days to invent anything that the 
kultured German scientists haven't thought of and 
worked out. 

Protecting your Raw Ideas. — Just as soon as you 
have an idea for an invention write as clear a descrip- 
tion of it as you can, read it to the members of your 
family, have them sign it and file it away as this is a 
record you may have to produce sometime in the future 
to prove your priority, that is that you were the first 
in time to conceive the idea. 

As soon as you have your idea all thought out and 
have made a drawing, an experiment, a cardboard or 



GETTING AN IDEA 17 

other model, in fact anything that will show what it 
will do, at least to some extent, and so prove that you 
have really made a new invention, invite two or three 
of your trusted friends to see it. 

Having shown, explained and enthused over it have 
them go with you to a notary public and sign a state- 




FlG. II. A TELAUTOGRAPH. A TELEGRAPH FOR REPRODUCING WRITING 
AT A DISTANCE 

ment to the effect that they have seen it ; then have him 
put his signature and his seal on it. You have two 
years from the date you first showed it to develop and 
file an application for a patent on it but should you 
fail to do this within the above time limit any one else 
can take up your idea, if they know of it, work it up 
and get a patent on it. 

Finally keep a note book and write down every 
thought you have about your invention, and every ex- 
periment you make in good black ink; draw pictures 



18 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

and diagrams and make photographs if possible of your 
work as you go along and put them in your book with 
the dates on them. This kind of a record will furnish 
you with what patent attorneys call the evidence of con- 
ception, and which will prove very useful in establish- 
ing your prior rights if you should ever get into an 
infringement suit. 




FlG. 12. THE GYRO COMPASS OF A SHIP. A GYROSCOPE TAKES THE 
PLACE OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE 



CHAPTER II 
WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 

The next step after, and sometimes even before, 
you have thought out your great idea is to make a 
drawing of the invention it represents. 

Nearly every one can do a little free hand drawing 
and this is a good way to make rough sketches to aid 
the mind in further developing thought. 

But if you can make a simple working drawing of 
your device, that is a picture in which all of the parts 
are drawn in proportion, or to scale as it is called, the 
whole thing will stand out clearly before you and you 





FlG. 13. A TWELVE INCH RULE 



Fig. 14. a pair 

OF CHEAP 

COMPASSES 

can see where it is wrong and make the needed changes 
on paper before you try to build a model. 

Tools for Making Simple Drawings. — To make 
simple working drawings, or mechanical drawings as 
they are called, all the tools you need are a good, 

19 



20 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



straight 1 2-inch rule, as shown in Fig. 13, compasses 
as shown in Fig. 14, a medium hard lead pencil, a rub- 
ber eraser and some smooth white paper. 

How to Make Simple Working Drawings. — At 
A in Fig. 15 is shown a drawing in perspective, that is 




FlG. I5A. AN ISOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE DRAWING OF A BOX 

as it would look to the eye, of a rectangular box, while 
B is a top view, C is a side view and D is an end view 
of the same box; of course the bottom and the other 

r 



v> 



FlG. 15. B, A TOP PLAN VIEW OF THE BOX. C, A SIDE PLAN VIEW OF 
THE BOX. D, AN END PLAN VIEW OF THE BOX 

end and side cannot be seen but you can imagine pretty 
well that they are there if you try to. 

To show the top, bottom, sides and ends of a box, 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 21 

or other device, you don't need to draw out the whole 
thing in perspective but you can make a flat, or plan 
view of each part as shown at B, C and D in Fig. 15, 
that is an outline drawing shown as though you were 
looking squarely at it in the center and with the meas- 
urements marked upon it. 

If now you will make a set of these working draw- 
ings of, say, a box and draw each part to scale, that 
is measured off in proportion, as shown in B, C and D, 
and saw out of a board the top, bottom, sides and ends 
and nail them together you will have a box like that 
shown in perspective at A. 




END-; ;-END 



fba 



Fig. 15. E, A CROSS SECTION view of the box. f, detailed drawing 

OF THE HOOK 

Plan views are easy to draw because they are formed 
of horizontal and vertical lines, and wheels are shown 
as true circles. After making your plan views, though, 
the safest way is to make a perspective drawing to the 
same scale for when you are looking at a square object 
as it really is it always appears larger than the plan 
views would indicate. But this is ahead of the story. 

Now suppose you wanted to show how the box would 
look if it was sawed lengthwise through the middle. 
You simply make a cross-section view of it as shown 



22 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



at E and any one who knows how to read drawings 
will understand it. To show the hook on the front of 
the box more clearly it can be drawn separately as at 
F and this is called a detail draiving. 

Exactly in the same way any device, apparatus or 
machine can be shown by top, side and end views and 
by cross-section and detail drawings. 

Just to see how something a little more complicated 




Fig. 16. a side view of a steam engine 

would work out on paper, let's take the cylinder and 
steam chest of a steam engine. First draw a side view 
of these parts as shown in Fig. 16. 

As the steam chest is a rectangle and every side of 
it is flat it can be shaded by drawing fine parallel lines 
spaced equally apart. The cylinder, . pipes and rods 
are round, or rather cylindrical, and to get this ef- 
fect these parts should be shaded with parallel lines 
drawn close together beginning at the top and bottom 
and making them ever farther apart as you get toward 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 23 



the middle and this will give it a rounded appearance. 
Next draw the end view of the cylinder and steam- 
chest. Since the cylinder has been given a diameter 
of 334 inches in the side view, of course it must have 
the same diameter in the end view as shown in Fig. 17. 
-2&— j 

~\- INTAKE PIPE 



SLIDE VALVE 
ROD 




PI5T0N 
ROD 



FlG. 17. AN END VIEW OF A STEAM ENGINE 

By looking again at Fig. 16 you will see that the 
steam chest is 4^ inches long and that it is 2 J/2 inches 
high but it is in the end view Fig. 17, that the width 
of it is shown. The end of the steam chest is shaded 
with straight parallel evenly spaced lines and the cylin- 
der head is shaded with concentric circles, that is with 
circles equally spaced apart and having the same center. 

In this and many other cases a side view and an 
end view give all the outside dimensions needed but 
sometimes a top view must also be made, and this is 
shown in Fig. 18. 

While all of these views show the outside of the 



24 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 




PIPE 
INTAKE 

Fig. 18. a top view of a steam engine 

steam chest and the cylinder they give no hint as to 
how the inside is made. Suppose you had invented the 
steam engine of course you would know how the inside 
should be made and so you make a cross-sectional 
drawing of the parts as shown at Fig. 19, and then the 
construction and even the operation of the engine looms 
up as though you had turned a searchlight on it. 

That is all of it will be clear except perhaps the slide 
valve and this is where a detailed drawing comes in to 
show a small part, or a part that is hard to understand 

INTAKE PIPE 



ffi 



SS5SSS5 



^S|t|pEjVA^|yJ SLlDEyALVEROO 

b2J 




Fig. 19. a cross-section of a steam engine 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 25 

by looking at the side, end and top views. The slide 
valve, see Fig. 20, is drawn in detail and the picture is 
made large and bold. The slide valve is made of a 
cast piece of metal hollowed out. It and the com- 




FlG. 20, THE SIDE VALVE SHOWN IN DETAIL 

pleted steam chest and cylinder are both drawn in per- 
spective, that is just as the eye would see them if they 
were actually made of metal. The latter is shown in 
Fig. 21. 

*2 




FlG. 21. AN ISOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE DRAWING OF A STEAM ENGINE 



26 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



A Simple Way to Draw in Perspective. — Did I 

hear you ask how you can make a drawing in perspec- 
tive? List and I will tell you the simplest way — a 
way so that you do it the first time you try. 

Buy a quire of isometric (pronounced i-so-met'ric) 
cross-section paper 6 by 9 inches, at a cost of 15 cents, 
of any dealer in drawing materials. This paper is lined 
in faint colored ink in three directions, as shown in 




FlG. 22. A SHEET OF ISOMETRIC DRAWING PAPER. THE REAL SHEETS 
ARE PRINTED IN NEUTRAL TINTS, THAT IS, COLORS WHICH DO NOT 
INTERFERE WITH THE DRAWING 

Fig. 22, and which represent length, breadth and 
thickness. 

Now isometric comes from iso which means equal 
and metric which means measure, so isometric means 
equal measure and the three lines used in isometric per- 
spective are at equal distances from each other. The 
lines which cross the vertical lines on isometric cross- 
section paper are 30 degrees from the base, or horizon- 
tal line and the vertical line is, of course, 90 degrees 
from the horizontal as shown in Fig. 23. Having 
everything at hand suppose you try to draw a square 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 27 



frame. Begin by making the first upright and you will 
see by looking at Fig. 23 that all you have to do is to 




DEGREES 



FlG. 23. FIRST STEP IN ISOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE DRAWING 

draw three vertical lines and join the top and bottom 
by marking over the 30 degree lines. This done draw 
three more uprights in the same way and when you 




FlG. 24. THE NEXT STEP IN ISOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE DRAWING 

have these on paper it is easy to put beams on top or 
struts between them as shown at Fig. 24. 



28 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



As all the lines are of equal measure you can mark 
on the exact dimensions as shown in many of the iso- 
metric perspective drawings in this book. For a draw- 
ing of some device, or of a whole machine, to give to 
some mechanic to make for you the better way is to 
hand him a perspective drawing together with the top, 
side and end views, rather than the latter views alone, 




DEGREES 



REES 



FlG. 25. A CRANK SHAFT DRAWN ON ISOMETRIC PAPER 

and then he will not need to figure out how they are 
put together. 

To show to a better advantage how isometric per- 
spective works out look at Fig. 25 and you will see how 
the bearings of a crankshaft of a four cylinder gas 
engine stand out in a vertical line, up' and down and 
in a horizontal line right and left as though they were 
real and made in three dimensions. 

How to Make Isometric Paper. — To make iso- 
metric perspective drawings you can get along without 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 29 

the cross-section paper described above though this is 
the easiest and most accurate way to get results. 

But you can make these drawings on any kind of 
paper if you know how to use a protractor and measure 
of 30 degrees. To do it right you should have some 
drawing tools and if you are an inventor you should 
have them anyway. 

Drawing Tools You Need. — For making drawings 
of any kind you should by all means have a drawing- 
board as shown at A in Fig. 26. As a drawing board 
must be perfectly square and made so that it cannot 
warp it is better to buy one of a dealer in drawing ma- 
terials. 




Fig. 26a. a drawing board 

A good board is built up of thoroughly seasoned 
strips of white pine glued together and fitted with end 
ledges; a small board say 12 by 17 inches on the sides 
can be bought for 50 cents or a little more and it will 
serve you well. A 12 inch triangular boxwood archi- 






Fig. 26b. a triangular scale 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M^^^^^MS 



tecfs scale is shown at B in Fig. 26 and is much 
handier to use than a common rule. 



3o 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



A beginner's set of drawing instruments consisting 
of compasses, with pen and pencil points, a ruling pen 
and a box of leads all in a nice pocket case, as shown 
at C, Fig. 26, can be bought for $1.25 and these com- 
passes are easier to handle than the one shown in Fig. 
14. 

But the chief instrument you need is a protractor, as 




Fig. 26c. A SET OF INEXPENSIVE drawing instruments 

shown at D, Fig. 26. This is a semicircle of brass, or 
of German silver, 2>H or 4/^ inches in diameter and 




FlG. 26D. A PROTRACTOR FOR MEASURING CIRCLES AND ANGLES BY 

DEGREES 

costs 10 cents or 40 cents, according to the size and 
metal it is made of. 

A protractor, as you may or may not know, is used 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 31 

to lay off angles and to measure angles in degrees. 
The curved part or scale of the protractor is divided 
into 180 degrees since there are 360 degrees in a circle. 
The figures start at both corners with o so that an 
angle of any number of degrees right or left can be 
marked off. Now the lines formed by marking off 
angles of 30 degrees are the only ones you will have to 
make for isometric perspective. To do this fasten a 
sheet of paper to your drawing board with thumb tacks 




FlG. 27. THE POSITION OF THE PROTRACTOR ON PAPER 

at each corner and draw a straight line across the paper 
near the bottom. Put your protractor on the edge 
of the paper and the pencil line exactly as shown in 
Fig. 27; lay your rule so that its edge crosses the 
straight part of the protractor at the middle, marked A 
in the drawing and also on the line of the scale of the 
protractor marked 30 degrees and then draw a line on 
the paper along the edge of your rule. 

This done place the protractor on the opposite and 
left hand edge of the paper and the horizontal line and 



32 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

lay your rule with its edge crossing the middle of the 
straight part of the protractor as before and on the 30 
degree line of the scale and so that when you draw the 
line it will cross the other 30 degree line as shown in 
Fig. 2J. 

If now you draw another line at 90 degrees, that is 
vertically, between the two crossed lines, also as shown 
in Fig. 27, each of the three lines will be exactly the 
same distance apart in degrees. You can go ahead 
now and draw lines j4> inch apart parallel with each of 
the three lines and you will have a sheet of isometric 
cross section paper of your own making. 

How to Draw Isometric Ellipses. — An Easy, 
Rough Way. — There is just one more little thing you 




Fig. 28a. the proportion of an isometric ellipse 

should know about making isometric perspectives and 
that is how to draw disks, wheels and anything else 
that is circular in form so that they will look right and 
be right. 

In isometric perspective everything that is round in 
reality is drawn in the shape of an ellipse, that is a 
closed curve that is longer than it is wide as shown at 
A in Fig. 28; there are different shaped ellipses but 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 33 

there is only one used for isometric drawing and this 
is always in the ratio of i 1 /^. to 2; that is if an ellipse is 
2 inches long it will be ij4 inches wide; an ellipse 4 
inches long will be 2J/2 inches wide and so on. 

An easy, though rough way to draw an isometric 
ellipse is to make a line as long as the diameter of the 
disk or wheel you intend to represent; draw another 




Fig. 28b. how ellipses stand out in relief 

line which is the width of the ellipse through the cen- 
ter and at right angles across it, see A again and then 
draw the curved line around the end of them free 
hand. 

How these ellipses are made to appear as if they 
were set either in a vertical or a horizontal position 
and at right angles to each other is shown at B in Fig. 
28. The axis, that is the spindle, or shaft on which 
the disk, or wheel, is mounted, must always follow the 
30 degree line running at right angles to the edge of 



34 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

the board or whatever it is supposed to be fastened to 
or goes through; and the thickness of the disk or wheel 
is always shown on the same sides as the thickness of 
the board or other part on which it is mounted, all of 
which is brought out clearly at B in Fig. 28. 

How to Draw an Isometric Ellipse. — A Harder 
but More Accurate Way. — Begin by drawing a 
straight line as long as you want the longest axis of 
your ellipse to be, as shown at AB, Fig. 29. Divide 




j 
Fig. 29. how an isometric ellipse is drawn 

this line into four equal parts. Now take your com- 
passes and with the needle at the center of the line O 
draw a circle having the line as its diameter. 

Next start at A with your dividers and divide the 
whole circle into ten equal parts and then take your 
rule and draw a line from the point C on the circle 
through the point G on the diameter and produce, or 
extend it to the bottom of the circle; draw a line from 
D through G and extend it to the top of the circle; 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 35 

draw a line from E through H and extend it to the 
bottom of the circle when it will intersect the line C G 
at the point J ; and finally draw a line from F through 
H to the top of the circle which will intersect the 
line D G at I. 

Take your compasses and using G as a center draw 




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FlG. 30. A SHADING AND LETTERING CHART FOR DRAWINGS 

the arc KAL; then using H as a center draw the 
opposite arc M B N; using the point J as a center, 
draw the arc K M so that its ends will meet the upper 
ones of the end arcs perfectly; using the point I as a 
center draw the fourth and last arc L N when the 
ellipse is completed. 



36 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

When making isometric ellipses much care must be 
taken to make all the points and draw all the lines 
with the greatest accuracy as the slightest error will 
distort the whole thing. 

How to Shade Drawings. — Besides the few hints 
for shading perspective drawings which I have given 
above there are certain ways to shade cross-sections 
and elevations to show whether it is made of metal, 
glass, wood, liquid, cork, carbon, insulation or other 
materials. There are also different kinds of shading 
to show fine and coarse fabrics and the various colors. 

The patent office has prepared a chart showing the 
shading that should be used to represent the different 
materials and colors and these are reproduced in Fig. 
30. The letters of the alphabet both upper and lower 
case, as the capitals and little letters are called, which 
are used by mechanical draftsmen are also shown in 
Fig. 30. As these letters and figures are clear, easy to 
make and are preferred by the patent office they are 
good ones for you to use. 

How to Make Electrical Symbols. — In making 
drawings, either for yourself or for the patent office, 
of electrical apparatus to show how it is connected up 
you do not need to draw out a plan view or a per- 
spective of each part but you can make what are called 
symbols. 

Symbols are simply a few lines or signs that stand 
for or represent a certain piece of apparatus; as an 
illustration suppose you want to show a dry cell, all 
you need to do is to make a couple of parallel lines, 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 37 



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38 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



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35 





HRIAl SWITCH 



Fig. 3 ib. a chart of electrical symbols 

all of them are shown at 



of electrical apparatus, and 
A and B in Fig. 31. 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 39 

How to Read Electrical Diagrams. — From the 
plates of symbols given at A and B in Fig. 31, you will 
see that the symbol for a battery is a pair of parallel 
lines as shown above, that the symbol for a motor is 



made in this fashion 



made like this : — ." 



-O- 



and that a switch is 



now if you want to show a 



battery, a motor and a switch wired together all you 
have to do is to join the symbols with lines as shown at 
C in Fig. 3 1 and you will have what is called a diagram. 
You can read a diagram, that is understand how it is 
connected up, in an instant for you can see at a glance 
how the wires run. Because the wiring is shown so 
simply and clearly diagrams of this kind are usually 
called wiring diagrams. 



1 i|i|i 



o 



1 



FlG. 3IC. A SIMPLE WIRING DIAGRAM 

In drawing wiring diagrams try to place each symbol 
in such a position that the connecting lines which repre- 
sent the wires cross each other as seldom as possible, 
otherwise your diagram will be confused and it will 
be hard to follow out the circuits. 



4Q 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



Some Aids to Drawing. — The following aid to 
drawing and designing was published in the English 
Mechanic and you will find it very helpful if your in- 
vention has to do with an automobile, aeroplane, or 
any large machine which is used or actuated by a per- 
son. 




Fig. 32A. the dimensions of a manikin 

Make a manikin, that is a little jointed figure of a 
man as shown at A in Fig. 32. The figure can be 
made to any scale but 1 inch to the foot which is % 
full size is a good ratio to make it but it must of course 
be made to the same scale as the machine you are draw- 
ing. 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 41 

To get the right proportions rule a sheet of paper 
a couple of inches wide and about 8 inches long so 
that the divisions will be M.2 inch square and draw on 
this the different parts of the manikin as shown at B 
in Fig. 32. Now since every Y12 inch on the paper is 
equal to 1 inch for a man 6 feet tall your manikin will 
be 6 inches high when it is jointed and complete. 



ttt ml r ut 



FlG. 32B. THE PROPORTIONS OF A MANIKIN DRAWN ON CROSS- 
SECTION PAPER 

The figure can be made of cardboard if it is to be 
used only a few times but thin wood, celluloid or hard 
rubber, or sheet tin, brass or copper will make a much 
more substantial one. Whatever the material that is 
used the edges of each part should be filed smooth; 
and when you rivet the parts together to make the 
joints the latter should work smooth and yet stiff 



42 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



enough so that the parts will stay in whatever position 
you place them. 




FlG. 32C. A TRIAL POSITION OF THE MANIKIN 

When you lay the manikin on your drawing you can 
see whether or not the levers are in the right places as 
shown at C and D in Fig. 32. 




FlG. 32D. ANOTHER TRIAL POSITION OF THE MANIKIN 

Making Cardboard Models. — In drawing out your 
invention you will often find that you can't get the 
image you have in your mind's eye down on paper. 

There may be the movement of a lever, the turning 
of a wheel or the motion of a cam that you cannot 
quite see through and try as you will to work it out on 



WORKING IT OUT ON PAPER 43 

paper the thing refuses to materialize. Under such 
conditions it would be a great waste of time and 
money to set about building a real model but there is 
an easy way out of the difficulty and that is to make 
a cardboard model of the device. 

Just as an illustration take the case of an aeroplane. 
Say that your big idea is a scheme for controlling the 
elevating planes and the direction rudder; you have 
clearly in mind the use of an elevating plane on each 
side of the rudder and yet when you try to draw it out 
these two parts won't fit together at all as you expected 
them to do. 

When you reach this point get a sheet of heavy 
cardboard, shears, bottle of liquid glue, pins, matches 
or toothpicks, some thin wire, a few corks and a sharp 
knife. 

Out of these materials you can build up the fuselage, 
as the body of the aeroplane is called; next you 
can fasten on the rudder and then the elevation planes ; 
and when you have the tail-planes put together with 
real materials and actual shapes and sizes they will 
stand out in bold relief and you will have no trouble 
in making your drawings from the cardboard model. 

Or suppose you have an idea for a gyro-motor such 
as are used for driving aeroplanes. Now in this motor 
the shaft to which the pistons are fastened stands still 
and the cylinders in which the pistons move revolve. 
It is rather a curious motion and not easy for a fellow 
who is not posted on mechanics to grasp offhand. 

What's the thing to do? Why, make a cardboard 



44 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

model of the mechanism using pins for the shafts and 
you will have a model that will look like Fig. 33, and 
when you turn the cardboard disk with the cylinders 
marked on it you will see at once exactly how the motor 
works. 




FlG. 33. A CARDBOARD MODEL OF A GYRO ENGINE 

And so it is with many other contrivances; when 
you come to any part that doesn't seem to fit or is not 
clear, make a cardboard model and your troubles will 
vanish as dew-drops in the morning's sun. 



CHAPTER III 
THE STATE OF THE ART 

Taking it for granted, now, that you have drawn 
out your invention on paper and have made cardboard 
models of the more difficult parts so that you can see 
about what your device or machine will look like and 
how it will work your next move is to look up the 
state of the art. 

What is Meant by State of the Art. — The state 
of the art means everything that has been published 
either in books, papers, or in patents about anything 
that has been discovered or invented, which has a bear- 
ing on your invention. 

As an instance the state of the art of the dynamo 
electric machine, or dynamo as it is called for short, 
goes clear back to 1833 when Faraday made the ex- 
periment of passing a wire across the pole of a magnet 
and found that a current of electricity was set up in it 
— that is in the wire. Since that time hundreds of 
patents have been taken out and thousands of articles 
have been written about dynamos. 

All of this information, or data as it is called, goes 
to make up the state of the art in the class of dynamos 
and all of the patents can be had and many of the 
articles too if you know how to go about it to find 

45 



46 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

them and one of the purposes of this chapter is to tell 
you how to do it. 

Use of the State of the Art. — You can easily un- 
derstand that with all the thought that has been given 
to, and the experimental work that has been put on, 
dynamos to the end of bettering them it is a pretty 
hard thing to make an improvement that has not been 
made before, though it is still quite possible to do so. 

Suppose, then, you had thought of and worked out 
on paper some improvement on the dynamo which you 
believed to be new and original and of great value. 
Certainly since you know that inventors like Edison, 
Brush, Weston, Thompson, Tesla, and a hundred other 
men almost as big, had applied themselves with dili- 
gence to dynamo problems during the last 40 years 
you would not care to go very far in spending your 
time or your money working on it until you learned 
whether or not some one before you had thought of 
and used the same principle. 

Yet hundreds of beginners in the field of inventing 
work along in the dark because they do not know the 
state of the art, and always to their sorrow. So don't 
be one of them. 

How to Learn the State of the Art. — For the 
reasons I have given above you will see that it is bad 
practice to go beyond the point of working out your 
invention on paper before you know whether it is 
really new or not for though it may be entirely origi- 
nal with you, if it has been thought of and read before 
some learned body of scientists, or printed in some 



THE STATE OF THE ART 47 

musty trade paper prior to the time you conceived the 
idea you haven't the slightest claim to it, nor is it of 
the least value to you. 

And so after you have thought out your invention 
and have made drawings of it the next step is not to 
apply for a patent as most patent attorneys will advise 
to do, or to have a model made as many model makers 
will tell you to do but to look up the state of the art 
and see where you are at. 

Having a Patent Attorney Look it Up. — The 
easiest and quickest way to learn roughly the state of 
the art is to have a preliminary search, as it is called, 
made by a patent attorney, which means that he will 
look through the files of patents that have been granted 
by the United States Patent Office to other inventors 
for devices or machines of the kind you are working 
on. 

To do this you must, of course, retain a patent at- 
torney, that is employ him, and turn the drawings and 
written description of your invention over to him. 
Every patent attorney outside of Washington, where 
the patent office is located, has a correspondent or an 
associate, that is another patent attorney, who lives 
there and who acts for him when necessary. 

This latter patent attorney will take your drawings 
and description to the library of the patent office, look 
over the files of patents there and pick out those which 
seem to him are most nearly like your invention. 

He will get copies of these patents, send them to 
your patent attorney who will in turn hand them to 



48 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

you with your original drawings and you can then go 
over them and compare them and judge for yourself 
whether you have a really new invention or if it burned 
in the brain of some other inventor before you ever 
dreamed of it. 

From the above you might infer that it would be 
a good scheme to employ a patent attorney who lives in 
Washington ; but on the contrary it is better to have a 
patent attorney in your own city transact this business 
for you, if one is to be had, for then you can talk 
with him and you will learn many things you couldn't 
begin to find out through correspondence. 

Many advertising patent attorneys agree to make 
what they are pleased to call a free search for you — 
and do it while you wait, so to speak. A free search, 
or desk search, as it is dubbed by those who don't make 
them, is of no value whatever for it is the snap-shot 
opinion, or rather a notion, of a patent attorney who 
is drumming up business by un-business like methods. 

To show how absurd an opinion of this kind is just 
consider that there are 43 divisions of inventions in 
the patent office; each division, is split up into any- 
where from a dozen to nearly 200 classes and that in 
some of these classes as many as 12,000 patents have 
been granted as in the case of the sewing machine. 

And when you ask a patent attorney of this ilk to 
make a free search for you he will write back a letter 
in this tone of voice : I have very carefully considered 
your sketch, etc., etc. The first payment of fees neces- 
sary to start your case is $20 and upon receipt of this 



THE STATE OF THE ART 49 

amount I will be very glad to carry the case forward, 
etc., etc. 

All patent attorneys who advertise that they will 
make a search for you free of charge will also make 
what they call a special search for which they charge 
$5.00, and any other patent attorney will make one for 
the same price and which is, after all is said and done, 
only a preliminary search. 

You can buy a copy of any patent that has been 
issued by sending 5 cents in coin — the government 
won't take its own stamps — to the Commissioner of 
Patents , Washington, D. C, that is if you know the 
number and date of it and the name of the inventor to 
whom it was granted. The patent attorney who makes 
the preliminary search will send you several copies of 
the patents nearest like your drawing without extra 
charge as these are, or should be, included in your $5.00 
fee. 

When you get the copies of these patents go over 
each one carefully and see how nearly the pictures are 
like yours; then read the description of the invention, 
or specification as it is called, and compare it with your 
own statement, and, finally study the claims at the end 
of the specification and pick them to pieces for in these 
are to be found what has really been allowed to the 
inventor by the patent office. 

The patents found by the patent attorney in making 
a preliminary search of the files and which are sent to 
you does not by any means represent the whole state 
of the art, but they serve a useful purpose as a starter. 



So INVENTING FOR BOYS 

The reason it is not complete is because the patents are 
usually selected by patent attorneys in virtue of their 
similarity to the drawings you have submitted to him. 
Sometimes, to be sure, he reads what the specification 
says and if he is a real good patent attorney he will 
sift out a few of the claims, though this is usually due 
to his patent training rather than to any conscientious 
desire on his part to get at all the facts in the case. 

But when you have applied for a patent on your 
alleged new and useful improvement and it is being 
scrutinized by the examiner in the patent office, he will 
look up the state of the art in all its devious ramifica- 
tions for this is what he is paid to do by the people of 
the United States, though he thinks it is the officials 
in Washington who employ him. At any rate he has 
plenty of time to do it in and ample assistance to do 
it with. 

Nor does he merely take a glance at the drawings, 
specifications and claims of your patent application and 
compare them casually with others that have been 
granted along the same line of endeavor, but, instead, 
when enough pressure is brought to bear, he will look 
up everything that has ever been published in all lan- 
guages, including the barbaric ro, 1 since Adam was a 
boy. 

At other times and for no reason at all, or so it 
seems, he will of a verity go to sleep on the job in his 

1 Ro is a universal language invented by the Rev. Edward P. 
Foster of Marietta, Ohio. According to the New York Times 
the frogs have talked ro from the first and any child ought to be 
able to learn it in less than twice the lifetime of Old Parr. 



THE STATE OF THE ART 51 

sub-cellar and let an application slip through his 
room in a few months, while he will spend years on an- 
other application of the same kind. Of course if you 
are the fortunate one you will be glad to get a patent 
granted so easily ; your patent attorney is glad because 
he has your money in his pocket and the examiner is 
glad because he has made a friend of his glad. 

To have everybody glad is a nice thing, you will al- 
low, but don't crow too soon for there is a hole in the 
average patent big enough to drive a horse and wagon 
through. If your patent is for an invention of genu- 
ine merit you will not be alone very long in the field 
and should you commence to make anything that looks 
like real money out of it you will find some other 
genius with an invention and a patent, as like yours 
as the other Siamese twin and if you don't sue him 
he will sue you and then you can fight it out in the 
courts. 

Even as right is always on the side of the army with 
the heaviest artillery, if there are enough shells, so, too, 
justice is always on the side of the inventor who has 
the smoothest patent attorney and the cleverest experts 
if they have enough ammunition in the way of some 
claims. While it requires skill to draw up good claims 
they can in any case be made better where the state of 
the art is known by yourself and your patent attor- 
ney. 

How to Look It Up Yourself. — Whatever the 
nature of the invention you are working on you should 
read up its history from its earliest beginnings and in 



52 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

this age of papers, books and public libraries this is an 
easy, entertaining and profitable thing to do. 

As an illustration take the art of flying and let's sup- 
pose you are working on a new wing, or main-plane, 
for an aeroplane; if you will go over the list of books 
sold by book publishers, or consult the catalogue of a 
public library you will find books on flying, or aviation 
as it is called, that will give you a full account of the 
development of flying machines; and if you will get 
the right book it will picture and describe all the forms 
of wings that have been invented and patented up to 
the time the book went to press. Then there are 
weekly and monthly papers published which are de- 
voted entirely to the theory and practice of flying and 
by reading these you will be able to keep right up to 
the entering edge of the art. 

Now what I have said about flying is just as true of 
whatever else you may happen to be working on, for 
books and papers are printed and published about nearly 
every subject you can think of, from aviation to wire- 
less telegraphy; by reading up on the subject of and al- 
lied to your invention you will soon have the history 
of it by heart and this makes up a large part of the state 
of the art. 

Another and fortunate thing when you look up 
the state of the art a lot of other ideas -will surge helter- 
skelter through your mind and if you are careful to 
write them down many of them will be of much value 
to you in the furtherance of your invention. 

If you live in a large city it is an easy matter to 



THE STATE OF THE ART 53 

look up the patents that have been granted for inven- 
tions in your class, for you will find an Index of the 
Patent Office in the public library which gives the num- 
ber and date of the patent you want and the patentee's 
name. The Index is published every year by the 
Unites States patent office and it gives the alphabetical 




flg. 34. the official gazette 

flg. 35. patent specifications 

Fig. 36. index to patents 

list of the patentees and of the inventors to whom pat- 
ents were granted for that year. 

Having found the patent you want to look into, get 
the Official Gazette of the patent office for the same 
year and by looking up the number, or patentee, or in- 
vention, or all of them, you can easily locate an excerpt 
of the patent and then you can take a look at the draw- 
ing and read the principal claims. 

The Official Gazette is published every week by the 
patent office and it contains a picture and a brief de- 
scription of each patent issued for that week, together 



54 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

with the number and date of the patent, the name of the 
patentee and of the invention. 

Should you require more information about a patent 
than is given in the Gazette you can look up a copy of 
the patent, or full specification as it is called, and these 
are bound in handsome volumes of ioo patents each, or 
at least, this is the practice of the New York Public 
Library. 

In every library that has a patent section, that is a 
part devoted to patents, there is a librarian in charge 
who will either find any patent you want or who will 
show you how to use the Index, Official Gazette and the 
volumes of the full specifications. 

The patent attorneys in Washington have things 
much easier as all of the patents are bound in books ac- 
cording to the class they are in and they only need to 
look over the volumes of a given class to choose those 
they want. 

When you have learned everything you can from 
books, papers and copies of patents already granted 
about the subject you are interested in you will have a 
pretty clear idea of the state of the art and whether you 
are working in a virgin field or one that has been sown 
with the same kind of inventions by others. 

But there is another and most important part of the 
state of the art which neither you nor your patent at- 
torneys can find out about until after you have filed 
your application for a patent; this is the information 
contained in the applications for patents by other inven- 
tors before your application was filed. 



THE STATE OF THE ART 55 

Should another application disclose either in whole 
or in part an invention like, or nearly like, yours, or 
rather that your invention is like, or nearly like, some 
one's else, the patent examiner declares what is called 
an interference, of which more will be said in another 
chapter, and this gives the patent attorneys on both 
sides another chance to rake in a few more fees. 

What to Do When You Find There Are No 
Other Improvements Like Yours. — After you have 
looked up, or have had looked up, the state of the art 
as carefully as possible, and you are satisfied that your 
invention, or improvement, is different from everything 
else you have been able to find, you should by all means 
go ahead and make such experiments, or build a work- 
ing model, as the case may be, in order that you may 
know that all you have thought about it is really true. 

As soon as your experiments are completed or your 
model is finished so that you know exactly what you 
want to claim as being strictly new and novel and orig- 
inal with you, then you are in shape to hire a patent 
attorney to draw up your patent application and file it 
and don't do the latter a moment before. 

A patent application based largely on what you guess, 
is a patent when granted without value for it can no 
more cover the exact facts in the case when these are 
finally worked out than a description one might write 
about an imaginary trip to Europe would be likely to 
fit the true details of a real trip which he would make 
sometime thereafter. 

When You Find There is a Resemblance. — Very 



56 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

often you will find after you have looked up the state of 
the art that some other inventor has patented a device 
that seems on the face of it quite like yours and yet 
when you examine them critically, compare them 
closely and bring thought to bear upon them you will be 
able to distinguish a difference and often in several re- 
spects. 

Sometimes this difference, though it seems to be 
small, is a mighty one when it comes to producing re- 
sults as for instance when Elias Howe used a needle 
with the eye near its point instead of in its head and so 
made the sewing machine a commercial success. And 
yet a patent examiner of to-day would not be likely to 
see any difference in a needle with an eye in its head 
and one with an eye near its point, that is, if he had 
never seen either one before. 

If you have made a machine to do a certain thing and 
you find that another machine has been invented that 
does the same thing and in the same way you may be 
able to change the mechanical movements, or electrical 
devices, until you are able to get the same or a better 
result by other and better means. It is all very easy 
to tell you to do this but in practice it is often a mighty 
hard thing to accomplish. 

The Bell telephone is an example of such difficulties, 
for while both transmitters and receivers can be made 
which work on principles quite different from those 
now in use the results are not nearly as good and hence 
the inventions have no practical value. 

When Others Are Exactly Like Yours. — But 



THE STATE OF THE ART 57 

when you find that your great idea has been thought of 
and worked out and patented by some other inventor 
ahead of you and that both the cause and effect 
which you and he arrived at are the same, then the 
best thing to do is to drop it like a hot potato and in- 
vent something else. 

Note. — The Patent Office publishes a Manual of Classifi- 
cation, price $1, which lists all of the sub-divisions of each 
class. Take as an illustration Explosives, which is Class 53. 
This is subdivided into six such classes, namely: (1) Blast- 
ing Powder; (2) Fulminates; (3) Nitro Compounds; (4) 
Gun Powder; (5) Matches; (6) Pyrotechnic Compounds. 



CHAPTER IV 
HOW TO EXPERIMENT 

The kind of experimenting you will do will, of 
course, depend altogether on the nature of the inven- 
tion on which you are working. 

But, as good fortune would have it if you are not 
mechanically inclined you are not apt to hit upon a 
mechanical invention. And if you know nothing of 
electricity, you are not likely to think out an improved 
electrical device. 

But this much is certain if you are going to experi- 
ment the right way you must know something about 
the right way to experiment. No one should expect to 
work out to a successful conclusion a new machine or 
apply a new improvement to an old machine if he 
knows nothing of the first principles of mechanics or 
about mechanical movements, and by rights he ought 
to have some knowledge of machine design. 

And the above statement is just as true of electrical 
inventions. A worker who does not know the differ- 
ence between a binding post and an alternating current 
need not expect to progress very far with an invention 
of, say, an electric block signal system — unless he calls 
in an expert to help him; but what he should do is to 
study the principles of electricity and magnetism, learn 

58 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 59 

the various currents that can be used and what appara- 
tus and instruments are needed for utilizing these cur- 
rents. 

The same thing applies to inventions in chemistry in 
that to work intelligently you must know about the 
properties of substances, chemical change and acids, 
bases and salts. And with electro-chemistry both a 
knowledge of chemistry and electricity are needed. 

It is easy to see that it would not be possible in the 
limited space I have here to say more than a word or 
two about the subjects of mechanics, electricity, chemis- 
try and electro-chemistry when each requires a whole 
chapter to explain it even in a rough way and a whole 
book to explain it thoroughly. But there are a few 
things I can tell you about them that will put you on 
the right track and then I shall give you the names of 
some books that will be of great service to you when 
you are in need of them, and with your help we'll make 
a real inventor of you. 

How to Experiment with Machines. — Any one 
who possesses the slightest bent for mechanics can work 
out improvements on devices like egg-beaters and mon- 
key-wrenches and feel their way as they go along. 

But when it comes to designing and building real 
machines where numerous levers, gears, and springs are 
combined to make a working unit you should by all 
means read up on the subjects of work, energy and 
power, learn about the six mechanical pozvers — and 
the action of machines in general. The following defi- 
nitions will give you an idea about all of them. 



60 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

Work, Energy and Power. — A wheel will not turn 
of its own accord but if it is moved round by some 
force applied to it such as the hand, a coiled spring or 
a motor, work is done. In fact whenever a thing is 
made to change its position work is done. 

The power to do work is caused by energy; energy 
is developed when some force is applied and can be 
stored up in bodies as when a ball is thrown. When 
the energy stops acting, or is used up, there can no 
longer be any work done. Energy can be transferred 
from one body to another, as from a clock-spring to a 
wheel, or from one wheel to another wheel ; and energy 
can be transformed, as the chemical energy of a bat- 
tery into the rotary energy of a motor or from steam 
into mechanical motion. 

The unit of work is the foot-pound and this is the 
work done to raise one pound one foot high. The rate 
of doing work is the horse power and a horse power is 
equal to lifting 550 foot-pounds in a second, or 33,000 
foot-pounds in a minute. 

Energy may be either potential or kinetic; potential 
energy means energy that is stored up and with nothing 
to act on, and for this reason it is called energy of po- 
sition. The electric charge of a Ley den jar is potential 
energy but the moment it is released it makes a spark 
and becomes kinetic energy or energy of -motion. Po- 
tential energy can be changed into kinetic energy and 
kinetic energy back again into potential energy with 
amazing freedom. Energy has a definite relation to 
velocity which means that when the speed of a moving 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 61 

body is increased its power to do work is also increased. 

Like matter, energy cannot be destroyed, and so all 
of it taken together is called a constant quantity. 
When the energy stored up in a spring, or a battery, 
has been used the energy is not destroyed, though it 
may be very hard to find out where it has gone, but you 
may know that it has vanished in heat and in other 
forms of energy. 

Work Against Friction. — The chief resistance 
which machines have to overcome is caused by friction. 
Since there is no such thing as a perfectly smooth sur- 
face friction is always present in machines and much 
energy must be spent in overcoming it. The energy 
wasted by friction is not destroyed but is transformed 
into another kind of energy and that is heat. When a 
marble is rolled over the surface of a table there is less 
friction between the two than when the marble slides 
across the table. Hence with ball bearings there is less 
friction than with cone bearings. (See Appendix I.) 

Forms of Energy. — There are nine forms of 
energy that you can make use of in your experiments 
and in your inventions, and these are : 



Energy of Masses 



Potential. 



Bodies in Motion — kinetic. 
Bodies under Stress 

(like a coiled spring). 
Bodies attracted by 

Gravitation. 

Sound — both kinetic and potential. 

Energy of Molecules e ^ ' 

and Atoms ] Molecular and Atomic Energy. 

I Chemical Action. 



62 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

_, ^ r Electric and Magnetic Actions. 

Energy of Ether J T . ,, , T . ? u . ^ .. .. 

\ Light and Invisible Radiation. 

Machines and the Principles of Machinery. — A 

machine is a contrivance of mechanical parts by which 
energy is transferred from one part to another. Be- 
side the amount of energy required for doing useful 
work there must be an extra amount for overcoming 
the friction. Remember that no machine can either 
create energy or increase it, and, as you have seen, 
every machine wastes some energy in friction ; this be- 
ing true it must be clear then that it is impossible to 
make a machine which when once set in motion would 
continue to run forever, or at least until its parts were 
worn out. So don't waste your energy in trying to 
invent a perpetual motion machine. 

The Uses of Machines. — These are many and 
varied from a commercial point of view in that they 
are designed to do better, faster or cheaper work and 
sometimes all of these good qualities are found in a 
single machine. 

From a mechanical point of view, though, a machine 
is used to 

(i) Change one form of energy into another form, 
as steam into electricity. 

(2) To make a slow moving, but powerful force 
produce a high speed or velocity, as in a sewing ma- 
chine. 

(3) To change a small, fast moving force into a 
powerful force, as in the action of a crowbar. 

(4) To change the direction of a force so that the 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 63 

power can be applied where and when it is needed, and 
(5) To make use of whatever force is at hand as 

the strength of animals, wind, water, steam, gas and 

electricity. 

The Six Mechanical Powers. — As a matter of fact 



I power "" s*" 



oJapplied FULCRUM 

HER E O WEIGHT TO 

BE RAISED 

Fig. 37A. a lever of the first class 



, FULCRUM 
POWER". V^Hfe PRESSURE 

APPLIED\ ^ ^S3^S~0BTAINED 




Fig. 37B. a pair of pliers 

there are really only two of these, namely the lever 
and the inclined plane, the other four, that is the 

POWER ^ — 
APPLIED HERE/T _^ 

fulcrumI |d \5 

(j WEIGHT TO 
^^BE RAISED 

Fig. 38A. a lever of the second class 



FULCRUM 
PRESSURE 
OBTAINED, 



153CI 



^...-C^pOWER 
APPLIED 

Fig. 38B. a pair of wire splicing clamps 

wheel and axle, the pulley, the wedge and the screw 
being simply modified forms of the first two. 



64 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

The lever is a rigid bar resting on, and which can be 
moved about a fixed point, called the fulcrum. There 
are three classes of levers and these are : 

(i) Where the fulcrum is placed between the load 
and the power which moves it, as shown at A, Fig. 
37; a pair of shears, pliers, a balance and a crowbar 
are levers of the first-class, see B, Fig. 37. 





CL 
&HTTO| 

BE RAISED 

FlG. 39A. A LEVER OF THE THIRD CLASS 



POWER APPLIED 




FULCRUM S|TAfNE R D 

FlG. 39B. A PAIR OF SUGAR TONGS 

(2) Where the load is applied between the power 
and the fulcrum, as shown at A, Fig. 38; a lemon 
squeezer and wire splicing clamps are examples of this 
class; see B, Fig. 38, and 

(3) Where the power is applied between the load 
and the fulcrum as shown at A, Fig. 39; the foot 
treadle of a jig saw and sugar tongs are levers of this 
class. See B, Fig. 39. Then there is the bent lever, 
as shown in Fig. 40, where the power and load do not 
act parallel with each other, and the compound lever 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 



65 



POWER 
APPLIED 



OVER 



*V 



FULCRUM 



WEIGHT TO 
BE RAISED 



FlG. 40. A BENT LEVER 

which takes the place of a single long lever as shown in 
Fig. 41, and which is used in large platform-scales. 
The wheel and axle is really a form of lever and ful- 



(F 



POWER 

\ APPLIED 

WEIGHT 
Fig. 41. a compound lever 

crum. The axle provides a continuous fulcrum as 
shown in Fig. 42. Trains of wheel work, such as are 
used in clocks and other mechanical devices, are used 



66 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 




FlG. 42. THE WHEEL AND AXLE IS A MODIFIED LEVER 

The power is applied at A, the weight is at B, and the Fulcrum 

is at C. 

to change a slow moving powerful force into a high 
speed, or velocity, or the other way about. Fig. 43 
shows a train of wheel work. 




FlG. 43. A TRAIN OF WHEELS OR WHEEL WORK 

The pulley is a wheel with a cord, rope or belt run- 
ning round it as shown in Fig, 44. It is used to trans- 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 



67 



mit power and also to change the direction of it. A 
pulley can be either fixed or movable. A compound 
pulley makes it possible to raise a heavy weight with a 







WEIGHT 

FlG. 44. A FIXED PULLEY 

very small force, not by increasing the energy, but by 
transposing velocity into power. 

The inclined plane is any hard smooth surface set 
at a slant to the force to be overcome. A barrel can 





FlG. 45A. AN INCLINED PLANE 

Fig. 45B. ONE OF THE uses of an inclined plane 



68 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



be rolled up an inclined plane against the force of 
gravity, as shown in Fig. 45, while it could not be 
lifted straight up to the same height. 

The wedge is simply an inclined plane on a small 
scale. It is useful where a great force must be ex- 
erted through a small distance, as in splitting a stick 
of wood, as shown in Fig. 46. 





FlG. 46A. A SIMPLE WEDGE 

Fig. 46B. two wedges form a printer's quoin 

A screw is also a modified form of an inclined plane. 
By means of a sq':ew great pressures can be exerted 
in a small space and here again a powerful force is had 
with a corresponding loss of velocity. It is shown in 
Fig- 47- 




Fig. 47A. the theory of a screw 
Fig. 47B. a screw clamp 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 69 

Compound Machines. — Any of the above six 
simple machines can be combined with any or all of 
the others and every machine that has ever been in- 
vented for any purpose is made up of a combination of 
these six mechanical powers. 

Since the beginning of invention there has been 
made by combining these six mechanical powers in 
different ways, a large number of simple machines 
called mechanical movements; and there has not been 
a single new mechanical movement invented in many 
years. 

Hence when you begin to work on your machine 
don't waste time and energy trying to devise the me- 
chanical movement you need, or what is still more 
foolish attempting to invent a new mechanical move- 
ment but look at the pictures in Fig. 48 which gives 
over 60 of the most useful mechanical movements. 
If you cannot find one among them that will do the 
work then look for it in Gardner D. Hiscock's book of 
Mechanical Movements which gives them all. 

Books. — And it would be a good idea for you to 
read one of the following books which you can, most 
likely, get at any library : 

Elementary Physics: Elroy M. Avery. 
Elements of Physics: Edwin J. Houston. 
Elements of Physics: George H. Hoadley. 
College Physics: A. L. Kimball. 

The first-named books go deeply enough into the 
subject of physics for all ordinary purposes while the 
last named is very thorough and has a lot of math in 




SPUR GEARS 




MITRE GEARS 



C 




BEVEL GEARS 








WORM GEAR 



ELLIPTICAL GEARS 



INTERNAL GEARS 



DIFFERENTIAL GEARS 






CROWN GEAR 



LANTERN GEAR 



RACK AND PINION 



RECIPROCATING MOTION 
CHANGEDTO INTERMIT- 
TENT ROTARY MOTION 






SKEW GEARS 



SUN AND PLANET 
MOVEMENT 



ROTARY MOTION CHANG- 
ED TO INTERMITTENT 
RECIPROCATING MOTION 




SPHERICAL GEAR 







ROTARY BLOWER 



MANGLE GEARS 



SCROLL GEARS 



ROTARY MOTION CHANG 
ED FROM HORIZONTAL 
TO VERTICAL SHAFT 



Fig. 48A. some useful mechanical movements 

70 




PI N TOOTH WHEELS 




5QUARE GEARS 




MULTIPLYING 
GEARING 




ROTARY MOTION 
CHANGEDFROMHOR 
IZONTAL TO VERTICAL 
WITH REVERSING CLUTCH 






SPROCKET AND CHAIN 



TURNING A RATCHET 
WHEEL AGAINST A 
5PRING PAWL 



ROTATING 
DISK SHEARS 



RIGHT HAND 
SPIRAL CLUTCH 






FRICTION PULLEYS 



BEVEL FRICTION 
PULLEYS 



GROOVED 
FRICTION GEARS 



BALL BEARINGS 




MULTIPLE GEARS IN 

LINEOFSHAFTTO 

VARY SPEED 




® 



ALTERNATING RECIP- 
ROCATING MOTION 



WORM GEAR AND 

CAM TO MAKE THE 

L LEVER JUMP 




RECOIL ESCAPEMENT 
USED ON CLOCKS 




RACK AND PINION 
PISTON MOTION 



A SUBSTITUTE 
FOR A CRANK 





RECIPROCATING MOTION 
CHANGED INTO ROTARY 
MOTION 5 VICE VERSA 



ROTATION OF WHEEL 
PRODUCES RECiPRO 
CATING MOTION 



Fig. 48B. 



USEFUL MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS 
71 



^dK 



W 



RECIPROCATING CHANG" 
EDTO ROTARY MOTION 




CIRCULAR INTO RE- 
CIPROCATING MOTION 




ECCENTRIC ON A 
SHAFT CHANGING 
ROTARY MOTION INTO 
RECIPROCATING MOTION 



i 




ORDINARY JAW CLUTCH 






CYLINDER CAM 



GOVERNOR FOR CONTROl 
TOGGLE SCREW PRESS LING STEAM "SUPPLY 



WIPER CAM 






CABLE 

BAR OR CABLE GRIP 



ACARPENTERSAUTO-I 
MATIC BENCH CLAMP 



FACE CAM 



ROTARY MOTION CHANG 
EDTO ALTERNATING RE 
CIPROCATING MOTION 




RECIPROCATING MOTION 
CHANGED TO REC1PR0 
CATION AT RIGHT 
ANGLES THERETO 





DOUBLE LINK 
UNIVERSAL JOINT 



AFLEXIBLECOIL 
SPRING SHAFT 



SINGLE LINK 
UNIVERSAL JOINT 




A PANTOGRAPH FOR 
REPRODUCING DRAW- 
INGS ON A LARGER 
AND SMALLER SCALE 



ANOTHER KIND 
OF PANTOGRAPH 



PANTOGRAPH 
MOVEMENT 



Fig. 48c. useful mechanical movements 
72 



ELLIP50GRAPH FOR 
DRAWING ELLIPSES 




ARCHIMEDES SCREW 




COMMON CRANK MOTION 




SPRING WHEEL 





PARALLEL ARM 
MOVEMENT 



GYRO MOTOR 



VALVE MOTION AND 
REVERSING GEAR 



REVERSING GEAR 
FORENGINES 





W- 



A 




CLOCK ESCAPEMENT 



GYROSCOPE 



AIR PUMP 



HYDRAULIC PRESS 




jgB: 







HYDRAULIC RAM 



WATER TURBINE 



DE LAVAL 
5TEAMTURBINE 



GAS ENGINE 




MAGNETO FOR 
SPARK IGNITION 





DYNAMO OR METER 



LOCOMOTIVE WITH REVER5INGGEAR 



Fig. 48D. useful mechanical movements 
73 



74 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

it; and all of them treat of liquids, air, electricity and 
magnetism, sound, heat and light. In whatever field 
you are working a general knowledge of physics will 
give you the key to a new and a mighty interesting 
world. 

With the first principles of mechanics well in mind 
and the mechanical movements I have given, you can go 
on with your experiments in a safe and sensible way. 

How to Experiment with Electricity. — Elec- 
tricity is very much like mechanics in that any one can 
put up an electric bell or screw in a plug-fuse but to 
experiment and build an apparatus in which electricity 
and magnetism are the powers used you must know 
how electricity is generated, how magnetism is pro- 
duced, the different forms of electricity that are avail- 
able and finally the kinds of apparatus best suited for 
the work that is required of them. 

Forms of Electricity. — Though there is only one 
kind of electricity it can be divided into four classes, 
or forms, and these are : 

(i) Electricity at rest, or static electricity, that is 
electricity stored up but not active as in a charged Ley- 
den jar. 

(2) Electricity in locomotion, or current electric- 
ity, in which electricity flows along wires, through so- 
lutions and other conductors when it is able to do 
work. 

(3) Electricity in rotation, or magnetism in which 
electric whirls produce attraction and repulsion, and: 

(4) Electricity in vibration, or radiation in which 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 75 

electric charges moving to and fro millions of times a 
second set up waves in the ether which our eyes can 
see and which we call light. Then there are waves 
much too short for the eye to see and these are called 
ultra-violet waves; there are waves too long for the 
eye to see and these are the infra-red waves which we 
can feel for they are heat waves, and finally there are 
very long waves set up in the ether by surging high 
frequency currents in wires and these are called elec- 
tric or wireless waves. 1 

Static Electricity. — You can think of electricity 
as being a fluid, like water, for it has both quantity and 
pressure, and in many ways it acts like a fluid. 

If you filled a tank, raised above the ground, with 
water, the latter would be at rest, but it would be under 
pressure too and the moment a hole was bored in any 
part of the tank below the level of the water it would 
squirt out; in other words the potential water would 
be changed into kinetic water or water in locomotion. 
If, now, you charge a Ley den jar, or a condenser, with 
electricity it will be at rest until you bring the alternate 
coatings of tin-foil closely together when a spark will 
result and a current will flow. 

Static electricity is generated by friction and by 
induction, but the electricity so produced is very small 
in quantity and very high in pressure. A Leyden 
jar, or other condenser can be charged, though, with a 
low pressure current of electricity, as in a spark coil. 

1 For a further explanation of these very interesting phenomena, 
read Modern Views of Electricity, by Sir Oliver Lodge. 



76 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

Current Electricity. — Whenever electricity flows 
in a wire, or other conductor, it acts like water flowing 
through a pipe and it is then called current electricity. 
The two most common ways to generate a current of 
electricity is by means of a chemical battery and by a 
dynamo electric machine. 

A current of electricity may have a small current 
strength, as its quantity is called, and a high voltage, 
as its pressure is called, like the discharge of a Ley den 

, >. 

Fig. 49. a steady direct current 

jar, or it may have a large current strength and a low 
voltage, as a current generated by a battery. 

A direct current, see Fig. 49, is a current which 
flows steadily in one direction and this can be gener- 

FlG. 50. AN INTERRUPTED DIRECT CURRENT 

ated by a battery or a dynamo. An interrupted cur- 
rent, see Fig. 50, is a current that is made and broken 
a number of times a minute and this is usually done by 
a vibrator, or interruptor as it is often called. A pul- 
sating current, see Fig. 51, is one whose current 
strength is varied. One way to produce a pulsating 

FlG. 51. A PULSATING DIRECT CURRENT 

current is to talk into a telephone transmitter which is 
connected with a battery. 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 77 

An alternating current, see Fig. 52, is one which 
flows first in one direction and then in the other direc- 

wwwv 

FlG. 52. AN ALTERNATING CURRENT 

tion. A magneto-electric machine and an alternating 
current generator are the means for generating this 
form of current. Alternating current can be produced 
from a direct current by using an induction coil, or 
spark coil as it is called. But a steady direct current 
can be obtained from an alternating current only by 
coupling an alternating current motor to a direct cur- 
rent dynamo. 

The pressure, or voltage, of an alternating current 
can be stepped up or stepped down, that is, raised or 
lowered, by means of a transformer, which is the 
simplest form of induction coil. The current strength 
varies proportionately with the charges in pressure so 
that there can never be any increase in the total amount 
of energy but there is always a loss of energy due to 
heating and other causes. The moral again is that an 

AAAAAA/1A 

* V.* \s \./ s -' % *' % * v 

FlG. 53. ALTERNATING CURRENT CHANGED INTO AN INTERRUPTED 
DIRECT CURRENT 

electrically driven perpetual motion machine is a de- 
lusion and a snare. Alternating current can be 



78 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

changed into interrupted direct current, see Fig. 53, by 
an electrolytic rectifier or a mercury vapor tube. 

A high tension current is an alternating current of 
sufficient pressure to make a jump-spark; it can be pro- 
duced by a high-tension magneto, or a spark coil. An 
alternating current is generally considered one that 
changes its direction less than 100,000 times a second; 
when it changes its direction 100,000 times or more a 
second it is called an oscillating current, see Fig. 54, 
or a high frequency current, and this is the form of 
current that is used for sending out wireless zvaves. 

Fig. 54. A PERIODIC OSCILLATING current 

The only known way to set up oscillating currents 
of really high frequency is by discharging the stored up 
electricity of a condenser, or its equivalent, through a 




FlG. 55. A SUSTAINED OSCILLATING CUERENT 

circuit of small resistance by means of a spark, or an 
arc. The latter sets up sustained oscillations as shown 
in Fig. 55. High frequency alternators (machines) 
have been built which generate alternating currents of 
over 100,000 cycles per second. 

Magnetism. — A bar of steel can be made 
magnetic by rubbing it on a permanent steel magnet or 
on an electromagnet, or winding a number of turns of 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 79 

wire around it and passing a current through the 
wire. 

If a bar of soft iron is placed in a coil of wire and a 
current is made to flow round it the iron will become a 
magnet but remains so only while the current is flow- 
ing, and this forms an electromagnet. An electro- 
magnet works best on a direct current but an alter- 
nating current can also be used to energize it. 

A coil of wire with an air core, that is without either 
an iron or a steel core, becomes a magnet when a cur- 
rent is made to flow through it. If, now, one end of 
a bar of soft iron is slipped into the hole in the coil 
of wire and the current is turned on the iron bar, 
or core, will be drawn into it. This kind of a magnet 
is called a plunger electromagnet, or solenoid. 

Radiation. — Whenever you light a match, or make 
a light by any other means, electric charges on the 
molecules of the substance which is heated vibrate vio- 
lently to and fro and the minute surgings of the electric 
charges set up electro-magnetic waves in the ether 
which the eye can see and the brain can sense and 
this is what we call light. 

When some substances are intensely heated, as for 
instance, the carbons of an arc lamp, waves are also 
sent out which are too short for the eye to see but 
which will nevertheless affect a photographic plate. 
These are called ultra-violet waves. The infra-red 
waves are too long for the eye to see but the nerves 
of our bodies sense them as heat. 

In conclusion take this bit of advice: don't try to 



PERMANENT 
5TEEL MAGNET 



SINGLE POLE 
ELECTRO-MAGNET 




DOUBLE POLE 
ELECTRO-MAGNET 




SOLENOID OR 
SUCKING MAGNET 




DOUBLE BALANCED 
RELAY FOR CLOSED 
GRAVITY DROP RELAY FOR CLOSING CIRCUIT BURGULAR 

ANNUNCIATOR TELEGRAPH SOUNDER SECOND CIRCUIT ALARM WORK 




ELECTRIC BELL 




PRIMARY SPARK 

COIL FOR GASLIGHT MEDICAL INDUCT- RUHMKORFF 

-ING ETC. ION COIL INDUCTION COIL 




m 



CARBON OR 
LECLANCHECELL 



I 



STORAGE 
BATTERY CELL 



SINGLE POLESWITCH 




GRAVITY FOR 
CROWFOOT CELL 



BABY KNIFE SWITCH 




EDISON PRIMARY 
CELL 




SINGLETHROWDOUB 
LE POLESWITCH 



Fig. 56A. some useful electro- mechanical devices 

80 




SINGLE THROW 
THREE POLE SWITCH 




INDICATING 
PUSH BUTTON 



Jk 



TELEPHONE 
HOOK SWITCH 




WATCH CASE TELE- 
PHONE RECEIVER 



INTERRUPTORFORMAK 
ING&BREAKINGCIRCUIT 




BIPOLAR TELE- 
PHONE RECEIVER 



PUSH BUTTON 




SOLID BACK TELE- 
PHONETRAN5MITTER 



0Hff 





TELEPHONE 
INDUCTION COIL 



SPARK PLUG 
FOR AUTOMOBILES 



BURGLAR 
ALARM TRAP 



ELECTRIC 
DOOR OPENER 





ELECTRIC SPARK 
GAS LIGHTER 



CIRCUIT CLOSER 
OPERATED BY DOOR 



POLARITY INDICATOR 
SHOWS DIRECTION 
OF CURRENTS 




GALVANOMETER 





BATTERY RHEOSTAT STATIC MACHINE 



MAGNETO FOR 
GENERATING ALTER- 
NATING CURRENTS 




DYNAMO FOR GENER 
ATINGDIRECTCURRENT 



Fig. 56B. some useful electro-mechanical devices 
81 



82 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



invent a new kind of electric current and don't try to 
devise a new electro-mechanical movement for in 
either case you will waste your time. Every form of 
current and every kind of electro-mechanical device 
you will need for any machine which you may invent 
are at hand and ready for use. Fig. 56 shows a num- 
ber of electro-mechanical devices and these will aid 
you in getting the result you want. 

Books. — The books on physics listed on page 69 go 
deeply enough into the subject of static and current 
electricity and magnetism for all ordinary purposes of 
invention, but if you are interested in wireless and 




FlG. 57. AN AMMETER FOR MEASURING CURRENT 
FlG. 58. A VOLTMETER FOR MEASURING PRESSURE 

high frequency electricity then I would suggest that 
you read the following books : 

The Book of Wireless. A. F. Collins. 
Manual of Wireless Telegraphy-. A. F. Collins. 
Wireless Telegraphy and High Frequency Elec- 
tricity. H. LaV. Twining. 
Electric Wave Telegraphy. J. A. Fleming. 
Your Electrical Equipment. — Should your inven- 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 83 

tion call for experiments in electricity, especially where 
the amount of current used is a factor, you should pro- 
vide yourself with a good ammeter, as shown in Fig. 
57, for measuring the current in amperes, and a volt 
meter, as shown in Fig. 58, for measuring the pressure, 
or voltage, in volts. ( See Appendix O. ) 

Where the resistance in ohms of a wire, or a circuit 
of any kind must be known a combined bridge and re- 
sistance box is the best way to make accurate measure- 
ments. Resistance boxes measuring from .001 ohm 
to 17.600 ohms can be bought of the L. E. Knott Ap- 
paratus Co., Boston, Mass., for about $18.00. It is 
shown in Fig. 59. 




FlG. 59. A RESISTANCE BOX FOR MEASURING THE RESISTANCE OF 

WIRES 

A large number of electrical devices call for wind- 
ing wire on cores, spools, coils, etc. Nearly all wind- 
ings can be done on a lathe but if a lathe is not among 
your treasured possessions you can make a winder 
which will serve all ordinary purposes. The drawings 
shown at A and B, Fig. 60, give all the details of con- 



84 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



NUT 



CORE ON WHICH WIRE 






\ 


CRANK 




I 




I 



Fig. 60. an easily made winding device 
a. A side view 
B. An end view 

struction and you can make one chiefly of wood of 
whatever size your winding calls for. 

How to Experiment with Chemistry. — It is a 
pleasant pastime to make chemical experiments 
after a known formula but it is quite a different 
and a difficult thing to try to invent some new chemical 
compound when you know little or nothing of chem- 
istry. 

If your invention calls for some chemical combina- 
tion or decomposition or double decomposition — 
these are the three kinds of chemical action — get an 
elementary book on chemistry and study it until you 
really know it and then you will have a bed-rock foun- 
dation on which to build up your invention. 

You may say it is all very well to read a book on 
chemistry and learn all about it but it's a mighty hard 
thing to do without a teacher. My answer is if you 
are not interested in chemistry, you will certainly find 
the study of it up-hill work and very tedious. 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 



85 



But if you are working on an invention like, say, 
synthetic gems, that is making real rubies and sap- 
phires and emeralds in an oxy-hydrogen furnace, see 
Fig. 61, you will not only study but you will study 




FlG. 6lA. MAKING A REAL RUBY BY CHEMISTRY 





FlG. 6lB. RUBY BOULES AS THEY COME FROM THE FURNACE 
FlG. 6lC. SYNTHETIC RUBIES AFTER THEY ARE CUT 

harder than you have ever studied before if you be- 
lieve it will help you to find the solution of the gem 
problem. It is under these conditions that work-study 
becomes play-study and you will be fascinated with it 
and it will then prove pleasant as well as profitable. 



86 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

Your Chemical Equipment. — The chemical ap- 
paratus you will require depends entirely on the class 
of work you are doing but for all ordinary chemical 
experiments the following apparatus will be found use- 
ful: (i) a nest of beakers; (2) a jeweler's blowpipe; 
(3) one-half dozen wide mouth flint bottles; (4) a 
Bunsen burner with regulator, that is if you have gas, 
or (5) an alcohol lamp; (6) a glass U tube; (7) a 
nest of Hessian crucibles; (8) a nest of porcelain 
crucibles; (9) an evaporating dish; (10) a lead dish; 
(11) a couple of glass funnels; (12) a glass bottle 
with a two hole stopper; (13) half a pound of glass 
tubing; (14) a porcelain mortar and pestle; (15) a 
plain glass retort; (16) a stoppered retort; (17) 3 or 
4 feet of J4 i nc h rubber tubing; (18) a sand bath; 
(19) a dozen test tubes; (20) a test-tube stand; (21) 
a test-tube clamp; (22) a test-tube brush; (23) an 
iron retort tripod; (24) one-half dozen watch glasses; 
(25) a water bath; (26) some wire clamp supports; 
(2y) a couple of platinum plates; (28) an air bath; 
(29) a burette; (30) a pinch-cock, and (31) a brass 
scale with weights. See Fig. 62. 

All of the above apparatus can be bought of any 
dealer in chemical or school apparatus for ten or 
twelve dollars. For advanced work you will need 
other apparatus but whatever your requirements may 
be you can either buy the apparatus ready made or 
have it made to order. 

As to chemicals these will likewise depend on the 
nature of your experiments. Send to Eimer and 



I 



i) TEST TUBE 
TEST TUBE BRUSH 



TEST TUBE CLIP 

m 

TEST TUBE HOLDER 




NEST OF BEAKERS 




FLORENCE FLASK 



2^ 



WATCH GLASSES 
WITH CLIP 



& 



THREE WIDE 

NECK MOUTH 
BOTTLE BOTTLE 





GRADUATED GLASS 



GLASS FUNNEL 




BURETTE PIPETTE 



GLASS RETORT 



0£ 



GLASS U TUBE 




1 "> 

PORCELAIN 
EVAPORATING DI5H 




f) 



PORCELAIN MOR- 
TAR 6 PESTLE 



SHEET IRON 
SAND BATH 



PORCELAIN 
CRUCIBLE 



NESTOFHES5IAN 
CRUCIBLES 





WATER BATH 



PINCH COCK FOR 
RUBBERTUBING 




RETORT STAND 



^ 





BURETTE HOLDER 



BUN SEN BRASS 
BURNER BLOW PIPE 



HAND SCALES 



Fig. 62. some useful chemical apparatus 

87 



88 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



Amend, 205 Third avenue, New York City, for a 
catalogue and price list of chemicals and chemical ap- 
paratus as they sell everything used by chemists and 
electrochemists. 

Books. — The following books with the exception 
of the last one are good elementary treatises on chem- 
istry : 

1. — Elementary Chemistry. Smith. 

2. — First Principles of Chemistry. Brownlee. 

3. — Chemistry. Remsen. 

4. — Complete Chemistry. Avery. 
How to Experiment with Electro-Chemistry. — 
In working out electro-chemical inventions you require 
a knowledge of both electricity and chemistry for it is 
the electric current that produces the chemical change 
either directly or indirectly. 



CARBON 




CARBONATE 
OF LIME 



Fig. 63A. 



CARBONATE 
CRUCIBLE OF LIME 

AN ELECTRIC FURNACE, SHOWING THE DIFFERENT PARTS 



An electric battery of any kind is electro-chemical 
in action and so is electroplating and electrotyping but 



HOW TO EXPERIMENT 



89 



these are old inventions. The production of ozone and 
nitric acid from the air by the action of an electric 
spark; of coal tar colors by electrolysis; the electroly- 
tic refining of copper and the electrolytic production of 
aluminum are electro-chemical inventions in which the 
action of the electric current is direct. And they are 
inventions of great importance and of recent date. 



CARBON 



LIME 



CARBON 




FlG. 63B. AN ELECTRIC FURNACE IN OPERATION 

Then there are a large number of indirect electro- 
chemical processes in which the electric current is used 
to produce heat as in the electric furnace. Genuine 
diamonds, though too small and too costly to have any 
commercial value, have been made in the electric fur- 
nace, shown in Fig. 63. Calcium carbide for making 
acetylene gas ; carborundum, an abrasive that is better 
than emery; electric smelting and the reduction of 



go INVENTING FOR BOYS 

iron ore with carbon are all new electric furnace in- 
ventions of great value, and there are many others. 

BOOK. 

The Elements of Electro-Chemistry Treated Ex- 
perimentally. By Liipke. 



CHAPTER V 
MAKING A MODEL 

At the end of the chapter on drawing I explained 
how you could make models of mechanical movements 
of cardboard. And you will remember that the pur- 
pose of these simple models is to clear up points that 
are hazy when you are working out your invention on 
paper. 

Kinds of Models. — Now besides cardboard models 
there are some other kinds, the chief ones being (i) 
rough models; (2) scale models and (3) working 
models, and each of these kinds is useful in its own 
way. The kind you should make, or have made, will 
depend on the bulge of your pocketbook as well as on 
the nature of your invention as you will presently 
see. 

There was a time when the United States patent 
office required a model of every invention for which 
a patent application was made; as a result the noble 
patent office finally became a museum filled with an- 
tique models instead of an office in which business 
was transacted for and with inventors. 

The government officials then concluded that the pat- 
ent examiners didn't really need to see the models any- 

91 



92 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

way and then and there they ordered that a patent ap- 
plication only need be sent to the patent office — with 
one exception ; this exception is made when a would-be 
inventor applies for a patent on a perpetual motion 
machine and then he is asked for a zvorking model 
and if this is not forthcoming — and of course it never 




Fig. 64. A ROUGH MODEL of an electric motor drive for a 

LOCOMOTIVE 

is — no further attention is paid to him or to his ap- 
plication. 

Rough Models. — After you have made the draw- 
ings and experiments which your invention calls for 
and both have worked out to your satisfaction you 
will then have a burning desire to see the result of your 
efforts in a more substantial form. 

Some machines in which there are only a few mov- 
ing parts need not be built up very carefully, or to 
exact scale or even of the materials the marketable 



MAKING A MODEL 



93 



product is to have in it. Very often a model can be 
made of wood and scrap metals that will do and show 
everything that you want it to. See Fig. 64. 

Should you have to employ a patent attorney who 
lives at a distance from you, say one who has an office 
in Chicago, Philadelphia or Boston, a rough model of 
your invention will be of great help to him for it will 




Fig. 65. A SCALE MODEL of an aeroplane 

give him an insight into its workings and its possibil- 
ities that he is not apt to get from studying your draw- 
ings and description unless you are a good mechanical 
draftsman and he is above the average in his pro- 
fession. 

Scale Models. — Scale models are usually minia- 
tures of the full sized machine, that is every part of the 
scale model is reduced in proportion from the dimen- 



94 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



sions of the big machine, say i inch to the foot or 
whatever you want to make it. 

Like rough models scale models need not be actual 
working models, indeed in many cases it is very hard 
if not impossible to make a scale model which will run 
or work like a full sized machine, unless the model is 
made very large, as for instance model aeroplanes 
fitted with motors of any other kind than those made 




Fig. 66. a toy heliocopter 

of rubber strands. Fig. 65 shows a scale model of an 
aeroplane. 

Then again sometimes a scale model will work to 
perfection and when a full sized machine is built it 
will not work at all as in the case of the heliocopter, 
that is, a flying machine having a screw with blades 
like a propeller and which when it is rapidly spun by 
means of a string like a top will rise in the air to a 
height and sail away to a distance of a hundred feet 



MAKING A MODEL 



95 



or more. Fig. 66 shows a toy heliocopter, or aerial 
top as it is called. Many attempts have been made 
to build full sized flying machines on the principle 
of the toy heliocopter but so far none of them have 
been able to get off of the ground. 




FlG. 67. A WORKING MODEL OF A BRITISH EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE 

Then again there are many machines that can be 
made of any size and which will work equally well. 
Fig. 67 is a scale model of a British express locomo- 
tive. It is 4 feet long and an exact scale model which 
can be fired up with coal and it will make a speed of 
10 miles an hour. 

A scale model of your invention, if it is a machine, 
or an electrical apparatus, when built by an expert 
model maker, makes a mighty pretty display and will 
never fail to attract attention wherever it may be 
shown. 



q6 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

Working Models. — A working model may be a 
scale model as you have seen or it may be a full sized 
machine or of any size between these limits. 

When you have your invention past the drawing 
board and up to the shop bench by all means make a 
working model of it and if possible make it full size. 
This kind of a model is the proof you want that your 
invention will work when it is put to the test and by 
making a working model you will find lots of changes 
little and big that are needed and which when made 
will improve its operation wonderfully. 

And however carefully you have worked out your 
invention on paper you will find that when you come 
to make a model, or have one made, you will have 
to change it not once but many times, that is if it is 
a machine in which a number of parts are made use 
of and you may have to re-design it and re-construct 
it several times. 

For this reason it is a waste of money to build a 
fine appearing and costly model in the beginning but 
what you should do is to make one that will work 
without regard to its looks so that you can experi- 
ment with it, overhaul it, tear it down, build it up 
again and so on until you are satisfied with it and 
the results it produces, if such a thing is possible, be- 
fore you even begin to talk to a patent attorney about 
applying for a patent on it. 

Nearly every tyro inventor seems to believe that 
the only way to keep honest folks from stealing his 
invention is to apply for a patent on it immediately. 



MAKING A MODEL 97 

You will remember I pointed out in the first chapter 
how to protect your first idea by signatures and affi- 
davits and protection of this kind is just as good, and 
in my opinion just as safe, and in every way better 
than to rush off and apply for a patent and — though 
of course money is of no object — it is cheaper by 
at least $35.00. 

Again as I stated in the preceding chapter if you 
apply for a patent before you have made a working 
model of it you will find when you finally get your 
model finished it will be so at variance with what you 
have written in your specification and claims that you 
will hardly be able to recognize it as being the same 
invention; and besides there will be the trouble and 
the expense of changing your drawings and specifica- 
tion and claims. 

On the other hand when you have finished your 
model to the point where it will do the work you 
want it to do you are in a position then to make a new 
and accurate set of drawings, to write a clear descrip- 
tion of how the machine works and to draw up your 
claims with the certainty of knowing just what you 
have and what you want to ask for — in a word you 
are ready to do business with the patent office. 

Ways to Make a Model. — The way in which you 
get your model made depends on several things and 
over these you will have little or no control. 

There are two ways for you to get a model made 
of your invention and these are (1) to make it your- 
self and (2) to have a model maker make it for you. 



98 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

These two general ways may be further divided 
into several sub-ways and among these are (a) for 
you to have your own workshop, or laboratory and 
hire machinists, or electricians, or chemists, and have 
them do the work under your direction; (b) for you 
to give a model maker the job and have him, or his 
men, do it under your supervision and (c) for you to 
have separate parts of it made by various model mak- 
ers and then assemble them in your own shop. 

If you are a little skilled in the use of tools there 
isn't anything I know of that will give you greater 
pleasure than to make each part of your model with 
your own hands in your own shop and watch it grow 
day by day until it becomes in truth the very apple of 
your eye. At least that is the way I feel about it. 
Moreover it gives you a sense of security you cannot 
have when the work is in some one's else hands. 

In making a machine from your own ideas and 
plans no one can do the work so well as yourself pro- 
vided you can do the work at all and besides it is 
cheaper and far more satisfactory. 

Should you have a fat pocket-book and at the same 
time a taste for inventing and the sciences — these 
elements seldom go hand in mind — but if they should 
get close together in your case I say, the right way 
to make a model is to hire skilled men to do the work 
while you do the thinking and the assembling in your 
private lab. By this process your model will go for- 
ward rapidly and the work will be done in the best 
fashion. 



MAKING A MODEL 99 

Before employing any one to work on your inven- 
tion have him sign this agreement: 

EMPLOYEE'S PATENT AGREEMENT 

The undersigned, in consideration of his employment by 
Charles Basset, inventor, and in further consideration of the 
salary received by him for such employment, hereby agrees 
that all inventions and discoveries pertaining to the business 
of the said Charles Basset which may be made by him while 
in his employ shall become the property of the said Charles 
Basset. 

And further, he also agrees to assign to the said Charles 
Basset all applications made by him for letters patent of 
the United States and elsewhere and all letters patent that 
may be granted to him, covering such inventions and dis- 
coveries without further compensation, and 

That he will promptly, on conception of any patentable 
idea or invention, disclose the same to the said Charles 
Basset and on his request so to do will make application for 
letters patent covering such inventions and discoveries ; 

And further, that he will execute all other papers whatso- 
ever that may be necessary to transfer to and rest in the 
said Charles Basset all the right, title and interest in and 
to such inventions and discoveries, it being understood and 
agreed that all expense incident to the securing of any 
letters patent or application for patent shall be borne by the 
said Charles Basset. 

(Signed) Henri Fabre. 
Boston, Mass., 
May 26, 1016. 

— Brennan's Handbook. 

The plan of having a model maker do all of the 
work under your direction may not appeal very strongly 



ioo INVENTING FOR BOYS 

to you but after all, if you lack the skill and the 
equipment needed for making your model, it is a pretty 
good scheme. 

Every large model making establishment has sepa- 
rate rooms fitted up where each inventor can work on 
his own machine and this gives you the privacy you 
demand and besides whenever you want a part made 
or changed you have a skilled mechanic at your beck 
and call and a shop equipped with the finest machine 
tools for him to use. 

Nor need you be afraid that your invention will be 
appropriated, which is a high-toned name for theft, 
by either the model maker or his employers to whom 
you have entrusted your drawings, and for the follow- 
ing reasons: 

( I ) Because any hint of such a thing as theft would 
ruin his business for all time; (2) because 99 per cent, 
of all inventions fail to make money for any one of 
99 reasons and (3) because the model maker grows 
rich making models for inventors while the latter 
mostly go broke ; and as far as the employees are con- 
cerned we must grant that they are as honest, or even 
more so, than the average run of suffering humanity. 

Neither are inventions apt to be stolen by patent 
attorneys for the reasons cited above but after you 
have worked out your invention, built a model and 
obtained a patent you are then in great danger of 
being separated from the fruits of your genius and 
perseverance by the professional promoter who makes 
it his business to finance the invention and at the same 



RIVETING HAMMER 



m BALL PEIN 
ING HAMMER 




ROUND NOSE PLIERS SlDECUTTING PLIERS 




TINNERS SHEARS 




DIES FOR CUTTING 
THREADS^r^ 



SELF REGISTERIMG 
WIREGUAGE^ 

MAGNET WINDER 



( IRON" 




TURNING TOOLS FOR BICK IRON 

METALS FOR LATHEWORK OR SMALL ANVIL GASOLINE BLOWTORCH EXPANSION PLIERS 



Fig. 68. some useful jewelers' and machinists' tools 

IOI 



102 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

time to feather his own nest; but more about him a 
little later. 

A good way to safeguard yourself at the hands of 
model makers, if you have any doubts about them, is 
to give different model makers different parts to make 
and then assemble them yoursel f . While it takes con- 




FlG. 69. A SMALL HAND DRILL PRESS 

siderably longer to build up a model in this secret way 
still there is a lot of satisfaction in this method of 
procedure. 

The Tools You Need. — To make a model of any 
description you need the usual tools that are the hand- 
servants of every jeweler and machinist, see Fig. 68, 



MAKING A MODEL 



103 



and you ought to have a small drill press, see Fig. 69, 
and a screw cutting lathe, as shown in Fig. 70, if you 
can afford these machines. 

There are two or three tools that nearly everybody 
knows about and yet which very few folks know 
enough about to use them. One of these tools is the 



BACK 
GEARING 



HEAD 
STCJCK 



CHUCK 



LIDEREST TAILSTOCK 




Fig. 70. a foot power screw-cutting lathe 

vernier and another is the micrometer and both are 
used for precision measurements. 

The vernier is not, strictly speaking, a tool in itself 
but it is a device that is applied to scales which makes 
it possible to measure small fractions of an inch much 
more easily and accurately than can be obtained with 
the scale alone. The vernier is also used on calipers, 
micrometers and other tools and instruments. 

The vernier is a short scale which is fitted to and 
slides along the edge of a fixed scale as shown in Fig. 



104 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

71. The fixed scale is divided into ioths of an inch 
and the vernier, which is %o inch long, is divided 
into 10 spaces. 

Suppose now when you measure a part of your 
model that you move the vernier over to the right so 
that the first mark of the vernier and the first mark 
of the fixed scale are exactly in a line with each other, 
then the vernier will have moved just %o of a scale 
division which is %oo of an inch. 

If the record marks of the vernier and of the fixed 
scale are exactly even then the vernier will have moved 
%o of a scale division or %oo or %o of an inch, and 
ii'jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiliilll 



To is no 



llllllllllllllllillllllli 



FlG. 71. A VERNIER FOR ACCURATE MEASUREMENT 

so on. The fraction of the %o inch that is obtained 
with the vernier is added to the number of inches and 
the fractions of an inch of the part which is measured. 
The vernier gets its name from Pierre Vernier who 
invented it in 1631. 

The micrometer is a tool, or instrument, which will 
measure accurately from o to 1 inch in thousandths of 
an inch. It is one of the most useful measuring de- 
vices that has ever been invented and if you are to 
build a model accurately you cannot get along without 
one. It is shown in Fig. 72. 

There are five parts to a micrometer and these are 
(a) the frame; (b) the anvil; (c) the spindle; (d) the 



MAKING A MODEL 105 

sleeve and (e) the thimble. The frame is held in the 
left hand, the object to be measured being placed be- 
tween the anvil and the spindle ; the thimble is turned 
by the thumb and ringer of your right hand and the 
spindle, which is fastened to the thimble, turns with it 
and moves through the nut in the frame until the 
end of the spindle touches the object to be measured. 

ANVIL SPINDLE SLEEVE 

\ /, rXr 

I- 1 I lo 1 P^ 



THir-BLE 




FRAME 



FlG. 72. A MICROMETER FOR MEASURING THOUSANDTHS OF AN 
INCH 

The measurement of the object is shown by the 
vertical lines on the spindle and the horizontal lines 
on the thimble and both of which are numbered. They 
are really a form of vernier. 

To read the micrometer, that is to find the measure- 
ment of an object, you have only to multiply the num- 
ber of vertical divisions which you can see on the 
sleeve by 25 and to this add the number of divisions 
on the bevel of the thimble from the o line to the 
line which coincides with it, that is, comes even with 
the long horizontal line on the sleeve. It is easy to 
learn to read a micrometer by taking one in your hands, 



io6 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



making a few measurements and following the above 
instructions. 

The wire gage is a circular piece of flat steel a little 
larger than a silver dollar and it is used to find the 
numbers of, and to measure the sizes of, wires. There 
are 32 slots cut in the edge each ending in a hole and 
numbered from 5 to 36 as shown in Fig. 73. 




FlG. 73. A STANDARD WIRE GAGE 

To find the number of a certain sized wire slip the 
latter into the slots until you find one into which it 
will just pass snugly and the number of the slot will 
be the number of the wire. On the reverse side of the 
gage will be found the sizes of the wire in decimal 
fractions of an inch. 

There are a number of different wire gages but 
the American Standard or Brown and Sharpe, or B 



II 



MACHINE SCREWS 



HEXAGONAL NUTS 



CAP NUTS 



nnp <ag> (~~} 
THUMB 5CREWS 

THUMB NUTS 




THUMB NUT BOLTS 



A SINGLE CONNECTOR 
B- DOUBLE •• 






A BINDING POSTS 
B-COPPERTERMINAL5 



THREADED 
BRASS RODS 



BRASS TUBING 
BRASS RODS 



A-CARBON PLATE BINDING 
POST fr SWITCH CONTACT 



TESTING CLIP 



*mmmmm 

SPIRAL SPRINGS 
A OPEN SPRUNG 
B-CLOSED SPRING 







PAWL 
RATCHET 



RATCHET RACK 



Xx^, 



BRASS 5 1 RON RAILS 



M 



SWITCH HANDLE 



oooOO 




avilll 



ELECTROSE KNOBS 



t-s-S 



BRASS b IRON BALLS BRASS CRANK 



ELECTROSE HANDLES 



Fig. 74. some useful stock materials made by automatic 
machinery 

107 



108 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

and S as it is called for short, is the one mostly used 
by machinists in the United States. 

Other useful gages are for the measurement of 
wood and machine screws; for finding the pitch of 
screws; for measuring the inside of tubes, holes, etc., 
and for measuring the outside of rods, tubes, etc. 
These tools and all others used by jewelers and ma- 
chinists can be bought wherever tools are sold. 

Buying Materials. — Many inventors waste time 
and sacrifice accuracy in making, or trying to make, 
wheels, gears, threaded rods, nuts, binding posts, con- 
tact points, switch levers and blades, hard rubber 
knobs, handles and other parts. 

Now all of these things and hundreds of other parts 
can be bought ready made of model makers, gear 
works and dealers in hardware, model aeroplanes, elec- 
trical and wireless apparatus. And before you begin 
a model of any kind you should get catalogues from 
all of the supply houses you see advertised. Fig. 74 
shows quite a number of parts you can buy ready 
made. 

About Making Patterns. — Very often though you 
will have to make a special part out of metal or have 
it made. Like everything else there is a best way to 
do this. 

Suppose you need a standard something like that 
used for a telegraph sounder, as shown in Fig. 75. To 
saw and file out a solid piece of brass would not only 
take a long time but it would prove a very tedious job; 



MAKING A MODEL 



109 



and this is also true of many other parts you will 
need in the course of making your model. 

The best way is to make a pattern of wood of the 
desired part, take it to a brass, or iron, foundry and 
have it cast. It is easy then to smooth it up with a 
file or to machine it in a lathe, or shaper, and lacquer 
it when it will -look like a mechanic's job. 

It is nice and easy work to make a wood pattern, 




FlG. 75. A STANDARD FOR A TELEGRAPH SOUNDER 

that is to cut out of wood the needed part of exactly 
the size and shape you want the finished casting to be. 
The wood for your pattern should be pine or poplar 
and thoroughly seasoned. A scroll saw frame will 
come in handy for sawing out small patterns. 

Where two pieces of wood are to be fastened to- 
gether a good glue should be used. After the pattern 



no INVENTING FOR BOYS 

is built up file out the uneven places with the kind of 
files made for scroll-sawyers' use. When this is done 
smooth up the pattern with medium fine sandpaper and 
finish it with very fine sandpaper. 

Should any holes or cracks show in the pattern after 
it has been sandpapered fill them up with putty; and, 
last of all, give the pattern a couple of coats of shellac 
varnish or rub graphite into it all over to keep it from 




Fig. 76. pouring a mold 

sticking to the mold. Your pattern is now ready to 
be cast in metal. 

A pattern, if it is complicated, should be made by a 
skilled pattern maker for it must be made in a certain 
way so that it will draw from the mold easily and 
without injury to the latter and leave it perfectly 
smooth. 

Casting in Iron and Brass. — Somewhere above I 
said that a pattern should be the exact size you want 
the finished casting to be but as a matter of precise 



MAKING A MODEL ill 

statement iron, brass and nearly all other metals shrink 
when they are cooling and so the pattern must be a 
trifle larger than the exact size you require and you 
must also allow for filing and machining. (See Fig. 

76.) 

As iron shrinks about M.o of an inch to a foot, brass 
shrinks % of an inch to a foot and steel and aluminum 
shrink about % inch to the foot you must allow this 
much for shrinkage in making your patterns. Type- 
metal is an alloy which expands on cooling and this 
is a useful thing to know. You will find a formula for 
making it in Appendix L, and all of the appendices 
from A to N contain detailed information on a variety 
of subjects that should be very helpful when you are 
making your model. 



CHAPTER VI 
HOW TO PATENT YOUR INVENTION 

With your model in such shape that it shows what 
your invention is and what it will do you are ready 
to apply for a patent, or letters patent as it is techni- 
cally called, by those versed in the art. 

What a Patent Is. — The term letters patent comes 
from the Latin litterce patentes which means open or 
disclosed, as against the French lettre de cachet which 
means closed or secret. 

A letters patent, or patent as it is called for short, 
is exactly what its name implies and that is a disclosure 
of your secret and for this disclosure of a new and 
useful invention on your part the government agrees 
to give you a monopoly, that is the sole right to make, 
use and sell it as you please for a term of 17 years. 

But the government does not live up to its agree- 
ment with the inventor and the invention and patent 
for it are never securely yours until it has been tested 
in the United States Supreme Court and its judges 
have handed down their opinion in your favor. But 
since there is no better protection than a patent at the 
present time of course you will have to get one. 

Choosing a Patent Attorney. — The next hardest 
thing to do after making a working model of your in- 

112 



HOW TO PATENT 113 

vention is to get a patent attorney to take out a patent 
for you. 

I don't want to infer by this that it is hard to find 
a patent attorney for on the contrary they are as numer- 
ous as sharks in the sea and twice as voracious, but a 
patent attorney who really understands his business 
and will take an interest in your affairs is as scarce 
as a pseud otriakis microdon, 1 unless you are backed by 
unlimited funds, and then you may get service. 

It is a strange thing but just as soon as you begin 
to work on an invention you will see in every weekly 
paper and magazine you pick up the advertisements of 
patent attorneys and usually they are located in Wash- 
ington " in a building across the street from the patent 
office " or in a building up the street from which the 
patent office can be seen. 

Their ads are very alluring as they often offer as 
an inducement to make a free search, as explained in 
Chapter III ; to keep your signed evidence of concep- 
tion in their fire-proof safes, and to refund your money 
if they do not get a patent for you. That these 
knights of the patent bar will do all they say there is 
not the slightest doubt and that is just where the 
rub comes in. 

Any patent attorney can get' a patent allowed on 
nearly anything if the claims are written narrozv 
enough but when it is granted it won't be worth the 

1 The pseudotriakis microdon is one of the rarest species of 
sharks. It is a small toothed nurse shark and is known from 
only two specimens, one of which turned up on the coast of 
Portugal and the other on Long Island. 



114 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

paper it is written on and the patent examiner knows 
it, the patent attorney who gets it knows it and you 
will know it too after you have spent your good money 
for it but then it is too late. A patent attorney of 
this kind is a good one to keep away from. 

The safest way is to go to a patent attorney in 
your own city or get into communication with one 
who lives nearest to you and engage him to prepare 
your patent application and prosecute it in the patent 
office. 

And whatever you do^make him agree to a Hat-rate, 
that is to name a fixed sum which you are to pay him 
for his services including the fee for filing the applica- 
tion in the patent office. The filing fee is $15 and 
the lowest fee I ever heard of any patent attorney tak- 
ing to prepare a case and seeing it through the patent 
office was $30, which with the final government fee of 
$20 makes a total of $65 ; and from this his fee will go 
on up to whatever amount he thinks he will be able to 
get you to pay. 

Should you happen to secure the services of a so- 
called really high-grade patent attorney you will not be 
likely to induce him to make a flat-rate for this is poor 
business on his part. Instead the way a better class 
patent attorney will deal with you, as a rule, is to in- 
duce you to start in by giving him a. retainer of say 
$25 or $50; then from time to time he will send you 
statements and as you pay them the amounts he de- 
mands will grow larger and the statements more fre- 
quent until by the time the patent is granted, you will 



HOW TO PATENT 115 

have paid in enough to buy him a fur-trimmed over- 
coat or a Ford automobile. 

The amount thus spent is not of so much conse- 
quence but what does matter is that where you and your 
patent attorney have no definite arrangement as to 
fees he is tempted, and in many cases yields to the 
temptation, to string the patent application along over 
a period of months if not of years, when if it had been 
followed up right along it would have been granted to 
you in a much shorter time. 

The moral of this un-fable is to hold your patent 
attorney down to a fixed price right in the beginning 
and have him write you a letter stating the amount 
he is to get and the work he intends to do for it, and 
this will serve as an agreement. 

The above are only a few of the bubbles in the 
patent system and to warn you of them all would take 
a book as large as an unabridged dictionary. The 
best advice I can give you is to study your invention 
from every angle, look up the state of the art in all 
its phases and then with a full understanding of just 
what you are entitled to write down all the points you 
want your patent to cover. 

Now catch your patent attorney, being sure he does 
not catch you first, and to parodize a caption 1 of the 
immortal Roosevelt, fear the patent office examiner 
and take your medicine. 

Applying for a Patent Yourself. — To get even a 
small part of what you are legally entitled to in a patent 

1 " Fear God and take your own part," — Roosevelt. 



n6 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



you should write to the Commissioner of Patents, 
Washington, D. C, for a copy of the Rules of Practice 
in the United States Patent Office, see Fig. yy, which 
will be sent to you free of charge. Read this booklet 
through not once, but many times, or at least until you 
understand everything in it for it will help you might- 
ily in the preparation of your patent application and 
the prosecution of it. 



RULES OF PRACTICE 

vim 

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 



Fig. 77. Rules of practice of the patent office 

You will learn from the Rules of Practice that you 
as an inventor may apply for your own patent and 
act as your own patent attorney in prosecuting it. 
And after you have learned the rules by heart you 
may feel that since you know more about your inven- 
tion than any one else you can make the drawings and 
write the specification and claims as well or better 
than the average patent attorney. 

But you should think twice and count ten with your 
eyes shut before you conclude to do this rash thing. 



HOW TO PATENT 117 

Why? Because the patent office will not accept your 
draining s unless they conform exactly to certain rules ; 
your specification, which means the description of your 
invention, must be written in a certain way, and the 
claims, which are the very vitals of the whole patent, 
must be drawn with exceeding care for while nothing 
of value must be left out it is even worse to write in 
too much as this limits your claims. 

Besides these reasons it grieves a patent office exam- 
iner whenever a mere inventor comes forth and files 
his own patent application and conducts his own case 
even if he has the ability to do so and when it comes to 
amending his claims he will find the hurdles are rather 
higher to jump over than he at first supposed. 

Applying for a Patent through a Patent Attor- 
ney. — Taking all these things into consideration my 
advice to you is to retain a patent attorney to prepare 
your case and see it through the patent office, and 
then you want to be prepared to watch every move he 
makes — that is to say when he has drafted your ap- 
plication, get a copy of it and go all over it yourself 
taking plenty of time to do it in; and then go over 
it with him covering every detail. 

In due time after your application has been filed the 
patent examiner will send a letter to your patent at- 
torney in which he notifies you that some, if not all of 
your claims, have been rejected and citing references 
to other patents chiefly to show that your claims lack 
newness and novelty. 

The next step is taken by your patent attorney who 



n8 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

amends the specification and claims to meet the ob- 
jections raised by the patent examiner. Here again 
you should know how and where your claims are af- 
fected and you should aid your patent attorney to de- 
termine whether or not you should insist on your 
claim being allowed to stand as it is written or to so 
change it that it will satisfy the patent examiner. 

It must be clear now that if your patent attorney is 
permitted to keep on changing your claims to meet 
every rejection of the patent examiner instead of 
fighting them out by the time the patent is granted it 
will have degenerated into merely a scrap of paper. 
Hence if you leave the whole case to the ability and 
judgment of your patent attorney you can be reason- 
ably sure that your $65 or $250 or whatever sum you 
have paid him for obtaining your patent is as good as 
thrown away. 

What You May Patent. — In all of the foregoing 
text I assumed that your invention consisted of a ma- 
chine but according to rule 24 of the Rules of Practice 
a patent may be obtained for any new and useful art, 
machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or 
any new or useful improvement thereof. 

Since all mechanical movements have been invented 
and all necessary electric currents have been discovered 
and enough chemical elements are known it may seem 
on first thought quite impossible to invent or discover 
anything either new or useful, yet the patent office is 
granting patents at the rate of about 125,000 a year. 

The way inventions are made is by forming new 



HOW TO PATENT 119 

combinations. Just as there is no practical limit to the 
number of new words that could be formed by new 
combinations of the letters of the alphabet, so there 
is no practical limit to the new machines that can be 
invented by novel combinations of the mechanical 
movements, with the result that something can be done 
that had not been done before, or that something 
is done in a better, cheaper and easier way than it had 
ever been done before. And the same is also true of 
combining electro-mechanical devices and of combining 
chemical elements. 

Inventing means that you are clever in combining 
certain movements, devices and chemicals in a new 
way to produce a certain result which may or may 
not have been done before, and so it is the new com- 
bination of things that you really get a patent on. 

Looking Ahead. — It must be plain now from what 
has been said that when you have completed your ma- 
chine, or product, or compound, all your inventive 
efforts will be in vain unless you go over every part 
with the utmost care and try to think out how it could 
be changed or done in some other way by some one else 
and so make your patent worthless, and your hard ef- 
forts wasted. 

What you should do, though it is easier to advise 
than it is to accomplish, is to so word the claims of your 
patent application that they will broadly cover not only 
your particular combination but every other form of it. 
Finally should your invention be one of considerable 
magnitude and great importance you must keep work- 



120 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

ing on it all the time and making improvements and 
covering the last named with patents or the other fellow 
— the patent thief — will get you sure, and often he 
will do it anyway. 

What a Patent Consists Of. — All through this 
chapter the words drawings, specifications and claims 
are used and now suppose we find out just what is 
meant by them. 

Every patent application is made up of five parts 
and these are (i) the petition; (2) the drawings; (3) 
the specification; (4) the claims, and (5) the oath. 
The petition and the oath are separate papers and do 
not appear in the patent when it is granted. The 
drawings, specification and claims form the patent 
when it is granted. 

The form of petition by a sole inventor is as fol- 
lows : 

To the Commissioner of Patents: 

Your petitioner, , a citizen of the United 

States and a resident of , in the county of .. . and 

State of (or subject, etc.), whose post-office address 

is , prays that letters patent may be granted to him 

for the improvement in , set forth in the annexed 

specification. 

Signed at , in the county of and State 

of , this .... day of , 19. . 

Other forms by joint inventors, etc., will be found in 
the Rides of Practice. 

The drawing or drawings come first and these are 
made on white paper the thickness of Bristol board and 



HOW TO PATENT 



121 




WITNESSES 



INVENTOR 

Archie Frederick Coil ins 



ATTORNEYS 
FlG. 78. A PAGE OF DRAWINGS FOR A WIRELESS TELEPHONE ARC 



122 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

the size of the sheet must be exactly 10 by 15 inches 
with a line drawn 1 inch from the edges all round mak- 
ing the sight, that is, the space in which the drawings 
are placed, exactly 8 by 13 inches. A reduction of a 
sheet of drawing for the author's revolving arc for 
his wireless telephone is shown in Fig. 78. 

The drawing or drawings, there may be one or more 
on a page and several pages if needs be, must show 
every detail covered by the specification and claims. 
The drawings may be made in isometric perspective 
as described in Chapter II, or plan or elevation views 
can be used, or both of these kinds of drawings as long 
as the pictures show exactly what the invention con- 
sists of and how it works. Usually the different parts 
are numbered and these are referred to in the descrip- 
tion of the invention. 

Should your invention be an electrical one, then a 
diagram of the apparatus formed of symbols (see 
Chapter II) should be used. 

The specification, the front page of one of which is 
shown in Fig. 79, is that part of a patent which de- 
scribes your invention or discovery and it should be 
as full and as clear as you and your patent attorney can 
make it and yet it must be concise and to the point. 

Don't try to hide, or keep anything back for should 
the patent be granted to you under these conditions it 
will be without value if it should ever figure in a suit. 
If you are not willing to make every detail known it is 
better not to apply for a patent at all. 

The claims, a few of which shown in Fig. 80, are 



HOW TO PATENT 



123 



SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettex 

Application filed November 7, 1891 



To all whom it may concern: 

Be it known that I, Archie Frederick Col- 
lins, of Saratoga Springs, in the county of Sara- 
toga and State of New York, have invented 

5 certain new and useful Improvements in Wire- 
less Telegraphy, of which the following is a 
specification. 

My invention relates to certain improve- 
ments in wireless telephony and telegraphy, 

10 and more particularly to the coherer used in 
connection with the receiving apparatus, the 
same being so constructed and arranged that 
the resistance is materially lessened and the 
local current of electricity is varied. 

15 My invention further contemplates the use, 
in Connection with the transmitter, of means 
whereby the etheric waves are concentrated 
and coincidently reflected in parallel lines to 
the receiver, thus preventing all possibility 

20 of the spreading or diffusion of said waves. 
My invention consists of the novel features 
of construction and arrangement of parts, all 
of which will be hereinafter fully described, 
,nd particularly pointed out in the append 



upc 

vid< 

wirel 

mitt 

ner. 

and H 

sired 

desiH 

cuit 
proxii 
7, the 
an null 
graduj 
portic 



FlG. JQ. SPECIFICATION OF ONE OF MR. COLLINS' PATENTS 



tween the coherer-magnet and the battery, as 
shown, from whioh relay a second circuit 19 
U formed, which contains the receiver 20. 

Having described my invention, what 1 
$ claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 
is— 

1. A receiving apparatus for wireless teleg- 
raphy, comprising a non-conductor tobe, op- 
positely-disposed conductor-plugs arranged 
10 within the tube, and havingtheir inner ends 
beveled to form a tapering pocket, adapted 
to receive loose magnetic particles, a local 
circuit embracing said plugs, and filings, and 
a magnet In said circuit arranged to act on 
15 said particles, substantially as and for the 
purpose set forth. 

!. A receiving apparatus for wireless teleg- 



raphy consisting of a coherer, comprising^ 
non-condncting tube, alined conductor-plugs 
arranged within the tube- and having their so 
separated inner ends beveled to form a V- 
shaped pocket, which is adapted to receive 
comminuted magnetic particles, a conductor- 
stripof high electrical resistance bridging the 
inner ends of said plugs, a local circuit em- t$ 
bracing sald'plugs. and magnetic particles, a 
relay, ana a magnet in said circuit the latter 
being arranged to act on said magnetic parti- 
cles, substantially as and for the purpose set 
forth 

ARCHIE FREDERICK C0UIN& 
Witnesses: 

J. A. Rennie, 

M. E. Pleis. 



FlG. 80. THE CLAIMS OF THE SAME PATENT 



124 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

the all important part of every patent and these must 
be clearly, cleverly and carefully worded so that if you 
ever have to fight an infringer in court your claims will 
be found to cover exactly the details of your invention 
and this will make it harder for the other fellow's ex- 
pert to misconstrue them. 

The oath. When you apply for a patent you must 
affirm, or make oath that you believe yourself to be the 
" first and original inventor or discoverer of the art, 
machine, manufacture, composition or improvement" 
for which you ask a patent. A form of oath to ac- 
company a patent application is as follows : 



ss: 



, the above-named petitioner.., being 

sworn (or affirmed), depose. . and says. . that 

citizen., of and resident., of , that 

verily believe to be the original, first and 

inventor., of the improvement in described 

and claimed in the annexed specification; that do.. 

not know and do. . not believe that the same was ever known 
or used before invention or discovery thereof, or pat- 
ented or described in any printed publication in any country 

before invention or discovery thereof, or more than 

two years prior to this application, or in public use or on 
sale in the United States for more than two years prior to 
this application ; that said invention has not been patented in 
any country foreign to the United States on an application 

filed by or legal representatives or assigns 

more than twelve months prior to this application; and that 
no application for patent on said improvement has been filed 
by or representatives or assigns in any coun- 



HOW TO PATENT 125 

try foreign to the United States, except as follows : 

Inventor's full name:- 



Sworn to and subscribed before me this day of 

I9-- 

[seal.] 

[Signature of justice or notary.] 
[Official character.] 

A good way to get an idea of how a patent looks and 
reads is to send 5 cents in coin to the Commissioner of 
Patents, Washington, D. C, with the request that a 
copy of patent No. 814,942 be mailed to you. 

While Your Patent is Pending. — In a month or 
six weeks after your application has been sent in to the 
patent office your patent attorney will receive an of- 
ficial reply, or action as it is called, and don't be sur- 
prised and don't let it worry you if you find that all 
your claims have been rejected by the examiner. 

He will state his reasons in his letter for the rejec- 
tion and give references, which are usually other pat- 
ents, to show that some other inventor has anticipated 
you and that your claims are neither new nor novel. 

Your patent attorney must then either amend the 
claims, that is reword and change them if you and he 
think the examiner is right, or else in your letter of 
amendment, you must show the examiner where and 
why he is wrong. At any rate you must satisfy his 
objections. 

By the time your amended application reaches the 



126 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

examiner and he again acts on it he will have dug up a 
lot more of references from the archives of the patent 
office ; and then you and your patent attorney can go all 
over the amending process again. 

After having gone through with this sort of thing a 
dozen or more times and covering one or more years 
— I have just had a patent allowed that had been pend- 
ing for nearly seven years — you and your patent at- 
torney and every one else that may be interested with 
you will be sore unto death over the delays — that is 
everybody except the patent examiner and he thrives 
upon the inventor's discontent. 

Interference. — As if all these trials and tribulations 
are not enough it often occurs in the course of a pend- 
ing patent that some one applies for a patent on the 
same, or nearly the same, invention as your own. 

When this happens the patent examiner declares an 
interference, the purpose of which purports to be to 
show which applicant is the first, or real inventor. 

When interference proceedings are begun you will 
have to make under oath a preliminary statement show- 
ing when you first conceived the idea of your invention, 
when you first explained it to some one else, when you 
made your first drawings of it and when you con- 
structed a model of it; all of which shows the impor- 
tance of keeping a record of each step of your in- 
vention and of having them frequently attested. 

These sworn statements by yourself and your op- 
ponent are passed upon by the examiner of interfer- 
ences and if either you or your opponent are not satis- 



HOW TO PATENT 127 

fied with his findings either one of you may take an 
appeal to the board of examiners-in-chief, and from 
this board to the Commissioner of Patents and finally, 
to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. 

And don't forget that all these proceedings and ap- 
peals are as meat and drink to the patent lawyers and 
that you and your opponent are contributing all of the 
money in exchange for a lot of red tape that ought to 
be abolished. 

When Your Patent is Granted. — But some bright 
morning you will receive a government document 
printed on vellum, showing a picture of the patent of- 
fice at the top and signed by the Commissioner of Pat- 
ents at the bottom, the whole being tied together with a 
pair of baby blue ribbons and to the ends of which is 
affixed a red seal bearing the imprint of the Patent 
Office of the United States of America, and at last you 
have your patent. The front cover of a patent granted 
to your humble servant is shown in the frontispiece. 

After Your Patent is Granted. — But after you 
have this valuable grant conferred by the government 
in your possession which is alleged to give you a 
monopoly on your invention for a period of 17 years 
you have only started on your career as patentee, for 
about the next thing that will happen, if your invention 
is worth anything and you are manufacturing and 
marketing it, you will find that some one else is making 
and selling exactly the same thing. 

He may or may not have a patent on the article or 
machine and it — the patent — may or may not be re- 



128 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

motely like yours but this doesn't in the least matter, he 
will keep right on working your invention and in- 
fringing your patent until you will either have to sue 
him, or continue to lose large profits that should be 
yours and perhaps be driven out of the business en- 
tirely. 

So, of course, you see your patent attorney and he, 
of course, advises you to begin suit at once. It sounds 
to your abused ears like right and justice but it means 
an outlay of much time and more money than you 
could begin to think of unless you have been through 
the mill before. 

This time you will have to engage patent counsel 

— no mere patent attorney will do if you are to win 

— and you must have experts to testify for you and 
your patent cause — it is no longer called a patent case 

— and testify against your opponent. The only limit 
to the fee that able patent counsel will demand and col- 
lect is fixed by your bank account while $100 per day 
is the usual fee of a technical expert though like his 
legal ally he will ask and get much more if you can af- 
ford it. 

After long months of drawn out preparation and 
taking testimony and quibbling you will find, if your 
legal talent is the smartest, that the patent granted 
you by the patent office has been sustained by the court. 
Such a decision may put the other fellow out of the 
business but it isn't once in a thousand causes you can 
collect damages when you win. And from this you 
will observe that the business of the patent office is not 



130 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

to give you a monopoly but simply to grant you a pat- 
ent and as to its validity the courts must settle that. 

About Paper Patents. — A paper patent is a patent 
that has been granted by the patent office for a new and 
novel idea that has never been worked out in prac- 
tice. 

For instance, suppose you get an idea for an in- 
vention or an improvement that seems a good thing 
especially after you have looked up the state of the art, 
and when you draw it out on paper it seems certain to 
work. And let's suppose that for the want of time or 
money you are not able to experiment on, or build a 
model of it; and you have fears that by the time you 
could build the actual machine some one else may have 
applied for a patent on the same thing. 

Of course, you feel you want to protect the idea and 
to do so you proceed to apply for a patent and in its 
own good time the patent office grants you one. You 
have then a thing called a paper patent but you haven't 
got the machine, or device or composition to back it up 
with. 

Well, it's just like writing a book about a trip to the 
moon; you know how far from the facts your guesses 
would probably be and it is the same thing with getting 
a patent before you have made the experiments or built 
a model. 

A paper patent is not usually worth the time and 
money you spend on it because it lacks backbone, but 
they have caused many real inventors a deal of trouble 
and expense in fighting them. 



CHAPTER VII 
MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 

After reading what has gone before you may well 
conclude that an inventor's life is not a happy one but 
let me remind you that whatever road you take to seek 
fame and to win fortune you will find it just as full of 
petty strife and big difficulties. 

In sooth inventing is one of the easiest and pleasant- 
est pursuits in which you can engage to make a good 
living and many inventors who were as poor as Job's 
turkey when they began to think up new ideas and con- 
coct useful schemes now have their thumb-nail biogra- 
phies in Who's Who and live on the fat of the land. 

And you can do the same thing too if you have a 
real invention and a lot of native shrewdness. Yes, to 
be a money-making inventor you must have inventive 
ability plus business ability, or rather the other way 
about, for business ability counts for more in the game 
of success than inventive ability. 

There are hundreds of inventors of the highest type 
who are comparatively poor men for the lack of busi- 
ness ability while many others, like Edison, all round 
inventor, Westinghouse, inventor of the air brake, 
and Eastman, inventor of the kodak, have made 
fortunes that run up into the millions because 

131 



132 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

they are first, last and all the time hard headed business 
men. And you must be a business man too if you want 
to make money out of your invention. 

How to Raise the Initial Funds. — By initial funds 
I mean the first money. It is easy to tell an inventor 
who has a rich dad or a bank account in his own name 
how to finance his invention. 

But mine is a harder task in that I am taking it for 
granted you are like 999 out of every 1000 inventors 
and that you have little or no money, are fired with 
ambition and that you have a big idea. 

Assuming that this is the precise state of affairs let's 
go back to where we started from in Chapter I, that is 
to the last part of it where you had drawn out your 
invention on paper, written a description of it and had 
some of your friends put their signatures to it. 

Should your invention seem to your friends to have 
merit it will take but very little urging to get one or 
more of them to furnish whatever amount of money 
you think will be needed to carry on the experiments or 
to build a working model. Of course you will in turn 
have to agree to give him, or them, a certain small in- 
terest in your invention, and this is fair exchange for 
you are putting up your brains against their money. 

If your invention is a small one and but little money 
is needed to develop it into a marketable product a 5 
per cent, interest is enough to give those who back you 
for taking the risk. A 10 per cent, interest is ample 
to offer for sufficient funds to develop a more compli- 
cated invention. 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 133 

This will leave you a 30 or 35 per cent, interest to 
sell to others later on, when you have a working model 
and your patent is granted, to furnish the capital neces- 
sary for equipping a factory to make the device and to 
provide funds to market it — that is if you work out 
a plan along these lines. 

But take my advice and keep a 55 per cent, interest 
in the invention for yourself; otherwise the control of 
it is taken out of your hands, and whenever it suits 
those who hold the controlling interest to freeze you 
out they will do so with pleasure. 

By using the following form you can save the ex- 
pense of having a lawyer draw up one for you and 
moreover you can also be sure there is no joker in it. 

FORM OF AN INTEREST AGREEMENT 

Memorandum of Agreement made this third day of Sep- 
tember, 1916, between William Franklin, of Peoria, Illi- 
nois (inventor), and George Wilson, of Peoria, Illinois, 
WITNESSETH: That 

WHEREAS, the said William Franklin has invented what 
he verily believes to be a new and useful improvement in 
gas engines and for which he will apply for letters patent of 
the United States, provided certain tests which he shall make 
shall work out satisfactorily, and 

WHEREAS, the said George Wilson is desirous of ob- 
taining an interest in the net profits arising from the sale 
or working of the said invention after the said letters patent 
of the United States has been granted: 

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises 
and of One Dollar to each in hand paid by the other, the 
receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, the parties hereunto 
do covenant and agree as follows: 



134 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

FIRST: That the said William Franklin for and in con- 
sideration of the payment of $1000 by the said George Wil- 
son will pay to the said George Wilson 5 per cent, of all net 
receipts accruing in any manner from the sale or working of 
the said invention and patent during the term of its life. 

SECOND : That the said George Wilson shall pay to the 
said William Franklin the sum of $1000 which shall be ap- 
plied to the making of a model of the said invention and to 
securing a letters patent of the United States for the same. 

It is understood and agreed that this instrument shall bind 
the parties hereto, their heirs, executors, administrators, suc- 
cessor or successors or assigns. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have here- 
unto interchangedly set their hands and seals the day and 
year first above written. 
IN THE PRESENCE OF 

Charles Howard 
as to the Inventor. 

John D. Prentiss 
as to George Wilson. 

William Franklin [l. s.] 
George Wilson [l. s.] 

About an Interest in a Patent. — There is a big 
difference between assigning an interest in your inven- 
tion and assigning an interest in your patent. 

Many an inventor assigns an interest in his patent 
either before or after it is granted to some one who 
will advance the needed money. But this is a thing 
you should never do for after having made such an 
assignment, however small the part, the person who 
owns it can make, use or sell the invention which the 
patent covers, as he chooses, just as though he owned 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 135 

the whole patent and you can neither stop him nor even 
sue him for damages. 

You can, of course, make, use and sell the invention 
covered by the patent too but usually it is the other 
fellow who gets the best of the bargain. 

Royalties, Shop Rights, etc. — After you have 
built a working model and obtained a patent on it there 
are many ways of making money out of your inven- 
tion. 

One is to sell your invention and patent outright ; an- 
other is to sell shop-right licenses; another is to have 
some manufacturer give you a royalty on each machine 
or device he makes and sells, and yet another way is to 
sell territorial rights, that is the town, county and state 
rights to manufacture your invention. Forms of 
agreements for all of these deals will be found in the 
Rules of Practice of the United States Patent Office. 

Besides the above arrangements you can go into 
partnership with some moneyed man, or interest, and 
finally a good plan, where a large amount of capital is 
required to build a plant and start a business, is to form 
a company, or corporation as it is called. 

Forming a Partnership. — Now that you have your 
model completed and your patent granted you will of 
course want to begin commercial operations immedi- 
ately, and let's suppose you think better of forming a 
partnership than any of the other above named plans. 

There are a hundred ways to secure a partner, or 
business associate as the sharer of your fortunes is 
called, but it is a mighty hard thing to get a satis fac- 



136 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

tory one. A favorite way to enlist capital and one that 
is often resorted to by inventors in large cities is to 
advertise in the newspapers under the head of business 
opportunities. 

An advertisement of this kind may put you in touch 
with the man you are looking for but it will also bring 
you a lot of curiosity seekers, riff raff and other un- 
desirables who come generally with a view of inducing 
you to part with your money rather than to invest any 
of their own. This is also true of the so-called brokers 
who advertise to procure working capital for meri- 
torious inventions. 

One of the best ways to secure a partner who has the 
necessary capital and requisite business ability is to ar- 
range to show your invention in operation and then 
invite your moneyed neighbors and the business men of 
your town, though you may not know the latter person- 
ally, to call and see it ; and they will call and get inter- 
ested if they believe in its possibilities for they are as 
anxious to make more money as you are to make a 
little of it, and they are keen to the fact that great 
fortunes have been built up out of simple as well as 
complex inventions. 

This method of showing your invention to your 
towns-folk, either individually or collectively, is the 
safe way to get one or more good, substantial men in- 
terested in your proposition and to lay the foundation 
of a paying business. 

Where the Promoter Comes In. — There are pro- 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 137 

moters and promoters ; by which I mean that there are 
various sorts of promoters and then some. 

A tin-horn promoter is an unprincipled fellow of 
some ability who secures an option on a patented inven- 
tion, or on the stock of a company based on an inven- 
tion, and exploits it for all he is worth to his own 
profit and without regard to the inventor or the stock- 
holders. The chief business of a tin-horn promoter 
is to secure control of the entire stock issue of a com- 
pany, sell it at inflated prices, pocket 90 per cent, of 
the proceeds and either doctor the books or disappear 
then altogether. Steer clear of the tin-horn promoter. 

An ordinary promoter is merely an agent who acts 
as a go-between for the inventor and people with money 
to invest and by his enthusiasm brings them together 
for the good of the cause. A real promoter is a genius 
who possesses both business ability and the neces- 
sary wherewithal to start, accelerate and carry on any 
kind of an industrial, financial or commercial enter- 
prise. 

You will meet the promoter in one shape or another 
as soon as it becomes noised around that you have an 
invention of merit. The ordinary promoter will be of 
assistance to you at any stage of the invention where 
experiments are still to be made and the patent is yet to 
be granted. He may also prove of service after the 
preliminary work is done in securing for you a real pro- 
moter. 

On signing contracts with the latter he will relieve 



138 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

you of all the cares of starting the business or of start- 
ing a company to start the business. And if you are 
not shrewd and careful and know just what he is doing 
and you should fail to have a hard and fast contract 
he will not only be likely to relieve you of the business 
cares but of everything else you may hold dear and 
sacred in this world. 

An ordinary promoter will ask about 25 per cent, 
of whatever money he brings in for your use in de- 
veloping the invention and a certain small interest — 1 
to 5 per cent. — in the company that exploits it. The 
real promoter wants and usually gets a working agree- 
ment of 50 per cent, of whatever profits there may be 
made out of the invention. If possible you should 
hold a 55 per cent, interest for this will give you the 
whip-hand and will save you much trouble in the end. 

Few promoters though will agree to such a division 
and about the only way you can keep the controlling 
interest is to organize a company and manage it your- 
self but this takes business ability of quite a high order. 

What a Stock Company Is. — A company is a 
number of persons who band themselves together for 
business purposes. A stock company, or stock cor- 
poration to call it by its proper name, is a company 
whose capital is represented by shares and which is 
held either in the treasury of the company, or by per- 
sons who buy the shares. 

Three or more persons may form themselves into a 
stock company for any industrial purpose in the State 
of New York. A stock company must be incorpo- 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 139 

rated, that is legally formed, under the laws of a State 
and different States have different laws. A copy of 
the corporation laws of any State may be had free of 
charge by applying to the Secretary of State. 



OF THE 

THE SEABOARD ELECTRIC COMPANY, INC. 



yiffliZ, the undersigned, 

all being of full age and two-thirds being citizens of the United States, and 
State of New York, do hereby certify and 6et forth : Tb?.t we propose to for 
pursuant to and in conformity with the Acts of the Legislature of the State ol 

First. — The corporate name of the said Company shall be_? h © Seaboa 
Inc. 

Second. — The purposes for which said Corporation is to be formed. 
To Hianufacture, purchase, sell or otherwise dee] 
appliances and devices for the use of automobiles, mote 
and other motor-conveyances or traction engines; 

To manufacture, purchase and sell or other 
appliances and devices, machines, dynamos and ej 
lection with the production or creation^ 
other articles or things used ir 



FlG. 83. CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION 

How a Stock Company is Organized. — Suppose, 
now, you and two other, or more persons want to or- 
ganize a stock company under the laws of the State of 
New York for say $10,000, although the value which 



140 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

you, and those interested with you, place on your in- 
vention and patent may be a great deal more. 

Then you and the others make, sign, acknowledge 
and file a certificate of incorporation, a reproduction of 
which is shown in Fig. 83 (see outfit necessary for a 
Corporation), and this must contain: (1) the name of 
the proposed company; (2) the purpose for which it is 
formed; (3) the amount of the Capital stock (which 
means the entire amount of the stock, for which the 
company is capitalized and which, let's say, is $10,000) ; 
(4) the number of shares of which the capital stock is 
to consist (each share of which must not be less than 
$5 nor more than $100 and the amount of actual capi- 
tal must not be less than $500 in cash with which the 
company is to begin business) and the amount of cash 
must be stated. ( 5 ) The certificate must also contain 
the name of the city, village, or town, in which its prin- 
cipal business office is to be located; (6) its duration, 
which you can put at 50 years; (7) the number of its 
directors which must be not less than three; (8) the 
names and post-office addresses of the directors for the 
first year, and (9) the names and post-office addresses 
of the subscribers to the certificate of incoporation and 
a statement of the number of shares of stock which each 
agrees to take in the company. A certificate of incor- 
poration blank ready to fill in can be bought for 10 
cents of stationers who deal in law books and forms. 

The Fees of the State. — The fees for incorpo- 
rating a company are payable in advance at the Secre- 
tary of State's office and these are for (a) filing the 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 141 



certificate of incorporation $10; (b) recording it, 15 
cents per folio of 100 words; (c) a certified copy, if 
you want one, 15 cents a folio and $1 additional for 
the seal affixed to it; (d) the organization tax, payable 
direct to the State Treasurer in advance is i-20th of 
1 per cent, on the amount of the capital stock, which on 
a capitalization of $10,000 would be $5, and (e) all 
personal checks for fees or taxes must be certified, that 






<5W_ 






& ' XU. 




Fig. 84. stock certificate 

is to have the paying teller of the bank your check is 
drawn on write good on it together with his name. 

Outfit Needed by a Corporation. — To begin busi- 
ness with after you have received your certificate of 
incorporation you must have : 

(1) A minute book in which to record the proceed- 
ings of the directors' and stockholders' meetings. A 
minute book with printed forms can be obtained which 
makes it easy to record the minutes accurately. 

(2) A stock certificate book; suppose your certifi- 
cates, or shares, have a par value of $100 then you will 



142 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

need a book of ioo certificates to equal $10,000. A 
stock certificate is reproduced in Fig. 84. 

(3) A book of account is required by the New- 
York State transfer tax law where companies are doing 
business in the State, and transfer agents must also 
have one to show every transfer of stock. Neglect to 
keep this book imposes a heavy penalty. 




Fig. 85. A SEAL PRESS 

(4) The New York transfer law- also requires New 
York companies to keep a stock transfer book which 
shows when shares, or certificates, are sold, or trans- 
ferred, by one person to another. 

( 5 ) A stock ledger is also needed by every corpora- 
tion to enter the stock transactions of each day in. A 
combination book with all of the three last named can 
be bought ready for use. 

(6) A corporate seal, which is an embossed impres- 
sion of the name of the company, see Fig. 84, is made 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 143 

by a seal press as shown in Fig. 85, and this is also re- 
quired by law. The whole outfit above described for 
incorporating and maintaining a company can be bought 
for the small sum of $10 or less of the Brown-Green 
Company, 48 John Street, New York City. 

How a Stock Company is Operated. — When you 
receive your certificate of incorporation you can then 
call a meeting of the directors (named in the certificate 
of incorporation) or board of directors as they are 
called. At this first meeting the directors elect the 
officers, that is a president, a secretary and a treasurer. 

The president then takes the chair and the secretary 
writes down all the minutes of the business transacted 
at this and subsequent meetings. The first business 
that will come before the directors after the election 
of the officers is to make the stock of the company full 
paid. To do this you must turn your invention and 
patent over to the company in exchange for the full 
amount of the stock the company is capitalized for, say 
$10,000. In other words you sell your right, title and 
interest in the invention and patent for $10,000 worth 
of stock, which is all of it. 

Next you turn back into the treasury of the com- 
pany 45 per cent, of the stock and keep 55 per cent, for 
yourself. The 45 per cent, of the stock in the treasury, 
which is called treasury stock, can then be sold at its 
par value, that is full value, which is $100 per share 
or at any smaller price the board of directors may agree 
upon. The sale of the treasury stock gives the com- 
pany the capital it needs to start the business and 



144 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

to keep it moving until it becomes self-supporting. 

If $4,500 is not enough money to finance your com- 
pany then capitalize it for whatever amount you think 
will be needed and add about 50 per cent, more to it. 
You can incorporate a company for $100,000 just as 
easy as you can for $10,000, but this is a matter you 
and your friends should consider most carefully. 

Should you at any time sell more than 5 per cent, of 
your holdings, that is of the stock you own, the control 
of the company will pass out of your hands and the 
other directors and stockholders will whip-saw you as 
they like, if they can pull together, for the majority 
of the stock will be in their hands. 

The stock, or securities, as it is called, of a company 
can be sold in a number of ways but the usual method 
is to sell it (a) by personal solicitation (b) through 
stock-salesmen, (c) have a broker take the whole stock 
issue, and (d) by advertising. If your invention is 
what it seems to be, your patent as good as the aver- 
age patent, your company capitalized for a moderate 
amount and the product looks good for making quick 
sales and large profits you won't find any trouble in 
placing the stock with the moneyed people of your com- 
munity. 

Besides receiving 55 per cent, of the stock for your 
invention and patent you should as the inventor and 
practical man be voted a salary of $25, $50 or $100 per 
week to superintend the manufacturing end of the busi- 
ness. Have a salary contract drawn up with the com- 
pany in which the amount you are to receive weekly 



MAKING YOUR INVENTION PAY 145 

and the length of time you are to receive it is stated, 
and have it signed by the president and secretary for 
the company. 

About Retaining a Lawyer. — In all of your busi- 
ness dealings with other people from the very beginning 
the safest way is to have the advice and help of a cor- 
poration lawyer and while he is keeping you safe, 
whole and harmless from all damage be sure he doesn't 
mulct you while he is doing it. 

A good way is to pay him a flat-rate for whatever ad- 
vice he gives you and the contracts he draws up for 
you. But if you can't do this then give him a 1 per 
cent, interest in the net amount which you may receive 
from your invention. 

When you and your associates have decided on 
organizing a company the usual and proper way is to re- 
tain a lawyer and have him take care of the incor- 
poration certificate, conduct the first meeting and open 
the books, to the end that it may all be done right and in 
good legal form. 



CHAPTER VIII 
SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 

After you have formed a partnership or a com- 
pany and have the coveted capital to go ahead with the 
business, you and your associates must consider two 
problems and the way you work them out will decide 
whether your venture will lose money or declare divi- 
dends. 

The Problem q£ Manufacture. — These two prob- 
lems are the manufacturing and the marketing of your 
product and in this chapter we will talk about manu- 
facturing it first and then take up the marketing end of 
it in the next chapter, for while they are closely allied 
in a common cause they have to be treated as entirely 
separate things. 

In this respect a manufacturing concern is very like 
a human being in that it has a brain and a body. You 
and those interested with you are the brains of the 
organization and those who work for you, to the end 
that profits may pile up for your benefit and behoof, 
form the body. 

On your head, most likely, will fall the responsi- 
bility of turning out a high-grade product at the lowest 
possible cost and to do this the right way and to the 

146 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 147 

best advantage you must begin at the beginning and 
think and scheme out how you can obtain the best 
results with the least outlay of time, labor and money. 

There are many ways to start in manufacturing your 
product but the efficient way will depend on what you 
have to make, the number you are to make and the 
amount of capital you have to do it with. 

Farming out the Work. — In the beginning you 
will often find it much cheaper, and hence more profit- 
able, to give a contract to some manufacturer — who 
has a big factory fitted out with thousands of dollars 
worth of machine tools and a capable force of skilled 
mechanics — for a given number of the articles, or 
machines, you want to have made and delivered in and 
at a certain time. 

By this arrangement there is no initial time, effort 
or money spent on buying machinery and getting a 
factory into running order, neither is there the work 
and worry of keeping a shop force going and besides 
you know exactly what each device will cost you when 
the lot is done and delivered. Still this scheme is not 
one that appeals to many inventors especially if they 
have, or think they have, a genius for mechanics and 
shop management. 

Another way to start operations in an economical 
manner is to have some one or all of the parts of your 
invention done by outside manufacturers, or farm them 
out as it is called, and then assemble the parts in your 
own shop. Scattered all over the United States are 
shops and all sorts of factories where you can get a 



148 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

lower price quoted on a certain part or parts made of 
wood, brass, rubber or any other material than you 
could possibly make it or them for, in a shop of your 
own in the beginning. 

Of course the larger the quantity of a given piece 
you can order at a time the lower will be the pro rata 
cost, that is the cost of each piece; for instance suppose 
a brass founder quoted you a price of $i each on a cer- 
tain casting in lots of ten, he might scale the price 
down to 50 or 60 cents each in lots of one hundred, and 
if you ordered a thousand at a time you might get the 
price down to 35 or 40 cents each. In figuring cost 
things like this must be taken into consideration. 

In many cases it is not the mere material put into, 
and labor put on making a part that brings up the cost 
of the first lots but before the part can be turned out a 
special die, or jig, or fixture must be made for dupli- 
cating the part and very often a special machine must 
be designed and built for making a certain part. Such 
special tools and machines are very expensive and their 
cost must also be reckoned with. 

Starting Your Own Shop. — In starting your own 
shop the question of what you are going to make and 
the quantity you intend to make will fix very largely 
the kind of machinery, the floor space and everything 
else you will need, nearly. 

In this age of cheap electric power you can have 
an electric motor installed, to run your lathes, drill 
presses, shapers and other machines, almost anywhere 
you happen to be located. And besides it is better, as 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 149 

a rule, to start and operate your plant in your home 
town. For a shop on a small scale, wherever it may 
be, it is cleaner, less troublesome and cheaper to use 
electric power than it is to use gas or steam power. 

Should you intend to operate on a very large scale 
it may then be to your advantage to look up a place 
where there is water power, or if your industry is one 
that calls for the large use of electricity you would then 
be justified in moving to Niagara Falls, or some other 
place where there are great hydro-electric plants. 

The matter of being near to certain raw materials 
you need for manufacturing, or to a market for your 
product is not one that you will probably have to de- 
cide alone. Nor need the question of labor take up 
your time for the wages of skilled machinists, elec- 
tricians and chemists are about the same throughout 
the United States, and while rents are higher in large 
cities than in the towns and villages still nearly one- 
half of the articles and machines made in the United 
States are turned out in 100 of the largest cities. 

One of the advantages of manufacturing in a large 
city is that you can always get skilled labor and a great 
variety of materials on short notice. Should your 
product be in the nature of gas or steam engines, 
harvesting machines or automobiles you should locate 
your factory on some navigable river, on the Great 
Lakes, or on a railroad line (with a spur-track run- 
ning alongside), in order to insure good and cheap 
transportation. 

When you rent or build a shop the main thing is to 



15° 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



have plenty of windows on every side and see to it 
that the ventilation is good and the heating system is 
adequate. There is no economy in making men work 
with poor light, bad air and in a cold place. 

Buying Machine Tools. — Having secured by lease 
or by purchase a shop, or factory suitably located your 
next effort will be directed toward equipping it with 
the proper tools and machinery. 

Besides the usual machinists' hand tools you should 




Fig. 86. a gas furnace 

buy (i) a gas furnace; (2) a grinder; (3) a plain 
lathe; (4) a screw cutting lathe; (5) a drill press ; (6) 
a planer; (7) a shaper; (8) perhaps a milling machine, 
and (9) a buffer. Several of each of these kinds of 
machines may be needed. 

A gas furnace, see Fig. 86, is useful for tempering 
tools and other operations where an intense heat is 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 151 

needed. A grinder, shown in Fig. 87, is used for 
grinding off rough parts of iron or brass castings and 
for smoothing up rough surfaces. It is formed of a 
mandrel which turns freely in a pair of bearings set in 
a headstock. A pulley is fixed to the middle of the 
mandrel and the latter is threaded on the ends; an 
emery, or a carborundum wheel is slipped over each 



HEAD 



MANDREL 



PULLEY 




FlG. 87. A GRINDER AND POLISHER 

end and these are held in place by washers and nuts. 
A swivel hand rest makes it easy to hold the work 
against the wheel. 

A plain lathe, see Fig. 88, is good for turning, drill- 
ing and facing metal parts and for many other opera- 
tions. It consists of a bed supported on a frame which 
carries the driving pulleys; the latter in turn is belted 
to a cone pulley which is keyed to the mandrel and 
this runs in bearings in the headstock. The inner end 
of the mandrel projects beyond the bearing and this is 
threaded so that a chuck, that is a device with adjust- 



152 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

able jaws for holding the work, can be screwed on it. 
Besides the headstock which carries the rotating 
mandrel, and which is fixed on the left hand side of the 
bed, there is a tailstock with an adjustable mandrel 
which slides on the right hand end of the bed, and be- 

HEAD STOCK hanhpfst 

| CONE PULLEY HAN * R ^ 

\^ FACEPLATE/ TAILSTOCK 




Fig. 88. a plain lathe for turning metal with hand tools 

tween the headstock and the tailstock there is an ad- 
justable hand rest. 

An engine lathe, as shown in Fig. 89, besides doing 
all an ordinary lathe can do can be used for accurately 
turning up cylinders, disks, etc., turning out cylinders 
and cutting screws of any size or pitch, within certain 
limits, and it does all these things with rapidity and pre- 
cision. 

A lathe of this kind has a guide-screw, a set of 
change wheels, that is a number of interchangeable 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 153 

gears, and a back-gear, and by means of these gears 
the guide-screw is revolved in any ratio to the speed 
of the gears which may be desired. For turning or 
cutting a slide-rest is used, that is an attachment slid- 
ing between the headstock and the tailstock, for hold- 
ing the tools. 

The slide-rest is made with two adjustable slides so 



SLIDE REST 



TAILSTOCK 




GUIDE 
5CREW 



FlG. 89. AN ENGINE LATHE FOR TURNING METALS WITH TOOLS IN 
A SLIDE REST 



that the tool can be held in any position. The slide- 
rest can be moved freely by hand or by means of the 
guide-screw which carries it along the bed at any de- 
sired speed. 

A drill press makes drilling an easier and a more 
accurate operation than when a lathe is used for this 
purpose. A pillar type of power drill is shown in Fig. 
90. It is so constructed that the drill can be rotated 
at any one of a number of speeds and by means of a 



154 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



CONE PULLEY 

/ 




CONE PULLEY 

MOTOR 



FlG. 90. PILLAR TYPE OF POWER DRILL 

guide-rod it is caused to advance into the metal auto- 
matically at the proper speed. 

A planer, see Fig. 91, is a machine for turning up 



UPRIGHT 




DRIVE 



FlG. 91. A PLANER FOR SURFACING METAL WORK 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 155 



flat surfaces, cutting slots and the like in metal parts. 
A planer is made up of a bed, a table in which the 
work is clamped and which slides back and forth on 
the bed by means of a feed motion; a slide-rest, which 
carries the cutting tool, is held above the bed by an 
upright frame and this moves to and fro across the 
table. 

There are several kinds of shapers made and Fig. 
92 shows one of them. A shaper cannot only be 



RETURN MOTION 
SLIDE 




TABLE 



jNDEX 

COUNTER 
SHAFT 



FlG. 92. A SHAPER FOR SHAPING UP METAL WORK 

used for planing, but for turning, boring and slotting. 
In a shaper the work is held in a fixed position on the 
table, which can be raised and lowered by a hoisting 
screw, and the tool is made to move across the table by 
a quick-acting return motion. 

There is also an arbor on which the work is mounted 
where a circular cut is to be made. The cutter head 



156 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

has a vertical adjusting screw with a worm feed and 
an index plate so that it can be set to any ratio. In a 
shop where only small work is to be done a planer may 
be dispensed with and a shaper used instead. 



TABLE 



DRIVE 



NOEX 




FlG. 93. A UNIVERSAL MILLING MACHINE FOR AUTOMATIC SCREW 
CUTTING AND OTHER OPERATIONS 

A universal milling machine, see Fig. 93, is also a 
handy combination tool in that it can be used for drill- 
ing, cotter drilling, boring, profiling, key-seating, rack- 
and gear-cutting and other operations. 

A buffing machine is made nearly like a grinder but 
leather, felt and rag wheels are used on the spindle and 
when either pumice-stone, crocus and rotten-stone is 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 157 



applied to them tool marks and scratches can be buffed 
out and the work polished when it is ready to be lac- 
quered or nickle plated. 

If you are buying new machines get them fitted with 
individual electric motors, as shown in Fig. 90, as this 
will save shafting, the time and cost of putting it up, 

HEAD 




RECIPRO- 
ATING 
MOTION 



Fig. 94. A JIG-SAW FOR sawing small woodwork 

the cost of belting, besides the time the machine is idle 
while the belt is broken and it is being laced again, the 
loss of power in transmission, when the machine is idle, 
etc., etc. ; boiled down, these machines equipped with 
individual motors are the last word in modern shop 



i 5 8 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



practice and it is a good one for you to follow. 
Whatever machines you order be sure to also order 
at the same time a full supply of tools to use with 
them for otherwise you may find when you have your 
machinery all set up and you think you are ready to 



SAW 




BED 



FlG. 95. A BAND SAW FOR SAWING HEAVIER WOODWORK 

start that you are minus the cutting tools and should 
this happen you will be in for another long delay. 

Unless your product requires a lot of wood-work it 
will hardly pay you to add a woodworking shop to your 
plant, though sometimes a jig-saw, see Fig. 94, or a 
band-saw, as shown in Fig. 95, will often prove of 
service. 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 159 

It is the same way with a foundry, for unless you 
need a large number of castings right along it is as a 
rule cheaper to farm the work out to some founder 
in your own town. 

Buying the Stock. — I do not mean the stock of 
your company — let your friends and the public do 
that — but the raw materials, as the stock is some- 
times called, which you are to convert into the finished 
product. 

Before you order either machinery or stock, try to 
standardize your product, that is to say whatever it is 
you intend to manufacture have it in such shape that 
you are satisfied to market it without making any 
further changes in it, at least for some time to come. 
It is the after-changes, the constant changes that have 
kept many a manufacturer poor, aye, forced him to 
the wall. 

Having a standardized article, object or machine, 
you and your associates should determine on the num- 
ber to be built first and then you can go over the model 
in detail and figure out just how much of each kind 
of stock, such as brass rod, sheet hard rubber, screws, 
washers, nuts, etc., you will need, allowing of course 
for waste and breakage. 

Now when you are ordering the tools and machines 
for your shop get prices on and order your stock at 
the same time and see to it you do not overlook any 
little thing and so have to wait for something you for- 
got. 

Screws, nuts, washers, bolts and some other small 



160 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

supplies can be bought in wholesale lots cheaper than 
you could possibly make them in your own shop and it 
is false economy to make anything with ordinary ma- 
chine tools that can be bought from some other manu- 
facturer who does the work with automatic machinery. 

Organizing a Shop Force. — I am taking it for 
granted that if you have enough ability to invent, 
design and make a working model of an invention and 
get an organization together to manufacture and 
market it you will certainly have enough ability 
left to build up and superintend the body of your enter- 
prise and that is your shop force. 

Your first effort in this direction should be to hire 
a good foreman; this, though, is not an easy thing to 
do for a foreman must be something more than a 
thorough machinist who can use any tool or run any 
machine. He must be able to get the best there is in 
them out of the other men under him and see that each 
one is put on the job which he is best adapted to do. 

Some of the men will shine as bench hands, others 
will show an aptitude in running machine tools and yet 
again others will be naturally clever in assembling your 
device; he must be able to pick out these good quali- 
ties and put the men where they will do the best work 
in the shortest time. 

By all means get a foreman, if you can, who has 
worked on something like, or nearly like, your own 
product. He should be a man of shop ideas with 
enough initiative to put them into use. To get all 
these things rolled into one human being for $25, $30 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 161 

or $35 dollars a week is asking a good deal but there 
are boss machinists in almost every city who can fill 
the bill. 

Your foreman can usually get all the mechanics you 
need but don't make the mistake of starting in 
and letting him hire the men. After he has found a 
man and wants to take him on, then you talk to the 
prospective employee, and you do the hiring. Hiring 
and firing the men should be your prerogative. This 
will make all of them respect you without respecting 
their foreman the less and they will do more and better 
work by knowing that you are the real boss of the 
works. 

The Stock Room. — The tools that belong to the 
shop and the stock, or raw materials, should be kept 
under lock and key in the stock-room and a stock-clerk 
should be put in charge of and made responsible for 
them. 

Have slips printed and whenever the foreman, or 
anybody else, including yourself, wants a drill, or a 
piece of brass, or a machine screw, insist that the stock- 
clerk get a slip signed for it. By this method you will 
know exactly where your tools and stock went to; 
and when a man returns a tool credit him with it. 

You should also have a record kept of the time spent 
on each job by the man who did the work and the 
easiest way to do this is to use a time-stamp as 
shown in Fig. 96. If your shop is a small one your 
stock-clerk can take care of the time-slips. By doing 
things in this systematized way you will be able to keep 



l62 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



pretty close tab on tools, stock and labor and these 
are three factors where a great deal of waste usually 
occurs in small shops and factories. 

The Finished Product. — Whatever you are manu- 




FlG. 96. THOMPSON TIME STAMP 

facturing, the finished product must be made as attrac- 
tive as can be with the littlest extra cost and this ap- 
plies alike to a toaster for a gas-stove or a threshing- 
machine. It's the finish the buyer sees and he will 
gladly pay for the paint and the gloss that covers up 
the defects, if the thing looks nice. 

Where a number of different materials enter into 
the make-up of a device it is always well to give some 
thought not only to the design, 1 but also to the color 
effect. 

Figure 97 shows a high frequency (violet ray) elec- 

1 See Chapter XII on Design Patents, 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 163 

trie machine designed by the author in which this idea 
is carried out. The stand is of iron, nickle-plated ; the 
base of the apparatus proper is of wood, japanned 
black; the rim is of brass, nickle-plated; the plate-base, 




FlG. 97. A HIGH FREQUENCY MACHINE 



on which the visible part of the apparatus is mounted, 
is made of slate and japanned black; the metal parts 
of the interruptor are nickle-plated, and the coil and 
insulating standards are of hard rubber as is also the 
handle. The cover shade and the violet ray vacuum 
tube are of glass, while red or green flexible silk cords 



164 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

are used to make the connections, and finally the lamp 
socket is of a composition called electrose. 

Thus the color scheme is polished ebony, the wood 
base, the slate plate base, hard rubber fittings and 
electrose socket all appearing precisely alike ; the blue- 
white nickle-plated parts alternate with the black, the 
glass lends an added touch of beauty while the red, 
or green, cords give it a dash of color that relieves and 
sets off the other parts. 

Iron work can be japanned black, enameled any 
color, or nickle-plated ; brass can be lacquered or nickle- 
plated, and wood can be enameled. After the device 
or machine is assembled it should be rubbed up to re- 
move all finger marks and to brighten it, then wrapped 
in tissue paper and packed carefully in a box if it is 
small enough so that this can be done, or it must be 
crated in such a way that it can be transported without 
marring or breakage. 

Overhead Charges. — In figuring on the cost of a 
completed device, machine or product so that a selling 
price may be put on it which will insure a handsome 
profit the cost of the stock, of the breakage of tools, 
of the labor, or production, and of the power — gas, 
electricity, water or coal — are all easy to keep 
track of. 

But there are other costs that must be taken into ac- 
count which, while they do not stick out so plainly must 
also be reckoned with, or your venture will be a money 
losing one. These are the overhead charges, such as 
the depreciation of your machinery, that is the wear 



SOME HINTS ON MANUFACTURING 165 

and tear of it; the rental of your factory, or the taxes 
if you own the building; the insurance on the building 
and the machinery ; transportation costs such as teams 
and teamsters or automobile trucks and drivers; tele- 
phone calls and the other little and big items of ex- 
pense — all of these must be carefully thought up and 
worked out for the year and charged against the num- 
ber of machines you are going to make in that year. 

To these fixed and variable charges must be added 
the salaries of yourself and your associates and the of- 
fice staff together with the printing bills, advertising 
accounts and all the incidental expenses of maintain- 
ing an executive office. Divide the total running ex- 
penses for the year by the number of machines you 
have turned out in a year and you will have the net 
cost of each article or machine you have produced. 

Where Your Profits Come In. — Add 33% per 
cent., 100 per cent., or 500 per cent, to the cost of pro- 
duction and let that be your selling price to consumers, 
agents, jobbers or wholesalers, less the usual small dis- 
count for cash. And the difference between the cost 
of production and your selling price will be your profits 
less certain losses on accounts which even an agency 
can't collect. 



CHAPTER IX 
PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 

Long before you get your shop into running con- 
dition and you are able to fill orders, you and your as- 
sociates will have talked over the best way that should 
be adopted to put your article or machine on the 
market so that it will bring in the largest returns in 
the shortest time. 

Here again the method you will choose and use will 
depend on what you have to sell and the backing you 
have to sell it with. Just as there are only seven origi- 
nal jokes and all the others that you see and hear are 
worked over and out of them so, too, there are only a 
few basic principles in the art of selling goods but 
these are modified into a thousand and one schemes. 

How Best to Do It.—- How? Aye, that's the 
question ! But even as you have had the genius to in- 
vent a new and useful time, labor and money saving 
device — there will, among the men you have sur- 
rounded yourself with, rise up one whose brains teems 
with schemes of ways and means to dispose of the fac- 
tory's output at the greatest profit and you may have 
a few stray ideas too as to how the thing can best be 
done. 

In every business however small or large there 
should be frequent conferences of the partners, or of 

166 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 167 

the heads of departments, and to save time and to 
conserve energy it is better that these meetings should 
be held at certain times each week, or oftener, when all 
of the matters of the office and shop can be discussed 
freely and threshed out. Indeed it is the common 
practice of every business concern where there are a 
number of departments for the heads of them to get 
together every day in conference to learn the view- 
points of the others. 

By this method every one knows exactly where the 
business stands for that day not only in his own de- 



MANUFACTURER ' " ^^^=== =::=:::: ^MZ^ZOPl.E 

CANVASSER. 

FlG. 98. FROM THE MANUFACTURER TO THE CANVASSER, THENCE 
TO THE CONSUMER 

partment but in the other fellow's as well and he con- 
ducts his part of it accordingly. This welds the whole 
business into an efficient unit instead of having it made 
up of a bunch of straggling ends. If the business 
can't be put on a paying basis under such favorable 
conditions then you had better get a new partner, hire a 
new manager or call in the old sheriff. 

Agents Wanted. — Hundreds of small patented in- 
ventions as, for instance broom hangers, pinless clothes 
lines and burglar alarm traps are sold by the manu- 
facturers of them directly to small agents all over the 
country and who, in turn, sell them by making a house 
to house canvass. See Fig. 98. 



168 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

The amount of your sales under this plan will de- 
pend on the number of agents you are able to secure 
and generally on the persuasive ability of the rhinoce- 
ros skinned peripatetic to sell the good housewife 
something which she truly doesn't want. But should 
your invention be one of exceeding merit — and of 
course it is — then the path of the itinerant salesman 
is made glad and he sees a rose for every prick of the 
thorn he gets. 

Agents can be had by running small ads in the daily 
and Sunday papers in the large cities under the classi- 
fied head of Agents Wanted. There are advertising 
agents who will run an ad for you in 15 or 20 papers 
throughout the United States, whose combined circu- 
lation runs up into the millions of copies and all for a 
$10 bill. An ad of this kind can also be run in such 
magazines as Popular Mechanics, Popular Science and 
a dozen other like publications. 

The Mail Order Business. — The two chief plans 
for working a mail order business are (1) by selling 
direct from your shop to the consumer and (2) by sell- 
ing your product to agents whom you start in the 
mail order business. 

To work the first plan there are two ways by which 
you can get the names of prospective buyers and these 
are (a) by running small ads in the papers and maga- 
zines and (b) by buying a list of the names of firms 
who make a business of classifying and selling them. 

Regarding the first plan suppose you have invented 
a new blood testing apparatus in which case you 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 169 

couldn't possibly hope to sell it to any other class than 
doctors. Now you can buy a list of all of the doctors 
in Boston, or of any other city, in Illinois or any other 
State, or of all of them in the whole United States 
from Boyd's City Dispatch, 19 Beekman Street; Rapid 
Addressing Machine Company, 374 Broadway, and 
R. L. Polk and Co., Inc., 87 Third Avenue, all of New 
York City. 

When you get this list you can then send out to each 
doctor a nicely gotten up folder or booklet and a clearly 
worded letter, which you can have mimeographed, that 
is duplicates made from the original typewritten letter, 



ADVERTISING 



MANUFACTURER MAILORDER THE PEOPLE 

AGENT 

FlG. 99. FROM THE MANUFACTURER TO THE ORDER AGENT, THENCE 

TO THE CONSUMER 

and according to business rules and regulations these 
ought to make a noise like a lot of orders. 

Lists of men and women in every line of business, 
profession and trade; including R. S. Dun and Com- 
pany's list which is guaranteed 99 per cent, accurate, 
can be bought of the above concerns that are classi- 
fied to fit whatever article or device you intend to 
market. This is one way of conducting a mail-order 
selling campaign. 

The second plan as outlined above is to run small 
two to ten line classified ads for agents offering to 
start them in the mail order business. See Fig. 100. 



170 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

Your proposition to each prospective agent who re- 
plies is something like this : you will give him, provided 
he buys, for cash in advance, of course, one dozen, one 
gross, or a dozen gross of the product you manufac- 
ture, the exclusive territory of a city, a county, or sev- 
eral of them, or of an entire State as you choose and 
according to the quantity he buys. 

Included in the price he pays, you furnish him with 
so many letter heads and envelopes with his name 
printed thereon as manufacturer's agent; printed circu- 
lars or folders, a series of follow-up letters and what- 
ever else is needed to start him in the mail order busi- 
ness except the list of names and the postage stamps he 
will use. It is up to him to get these accessories. 

A Series of Follow-up Letters. — By a series of 
follow-up letters is meant that a number of different 
letters, say six, are written up in such a way that each 
one makes a stronger appeal to the consumer than the 
one he gets before. 

Let's say that your agent sends a circular describing 
the merits of your patent mailing box for eggs to an 
egg grower in the rural district and with it a letter 
stating how glad he would be to receive an order from 
him for a dozen mailing boxes, the price, etc. ; if, now, 
in ten days' time no reply is forth-coming the agent 
mails him a second letter, stating that he can't under- 
stand why he hasn't heard from him, et cetera and so 
on. If this brings no response the agent mails a third 
letter in another ten days saying that since he (the 
agent) has used several stamps in writing to him sup- 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 171 

pose that he (the egg grower) sits down and uses a 
stamp on him and so forth and e pluribus unum, as 
Artemus Ward used to say. 

And so the letters are mailed until the series of six 
have been sent out at ten day intervals. The idea is 
that as the letters, each of which is a little stronger 
than the one before it, reach the egg grower with 
clocklike regularity the value of your patent mailing 
box for eggs will sink deeper and with more telling ef- 
fect into his cranium and that somewhere between the 
first and the last letter he will conclude he had 
better order a dozen or more boxes. 

If the sixth and last letter does not bring an order 
the agent may then conclude that the chickens are dead, 
or that the roosters are sleeping, or else that the egg- 
grower doesn't want the mailing box and he knows 
that he doesn't want it. At any rate it is time for the 
agent to quit wasting stamps on him. 

Selling Through Sales Agents. — Turning now to 
big business one of the most successful ways now in 
vogue to sell goods is the one adopted by automobile 
manufacturers. 

By this method the manufacturer sells his product 
to his own sales agents and these in turn sell them 
to the consumer. Both the manufacturer and his 
agents advertise, the former nationally, that is he tries 
to reach all the people, and the latter locally, that is in 
his own territory. 

The result of their joint advertising is inquiries 
and these the sales agent follows up by personal so- 



172 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



licitation. Fig. ioo shows diagrammatically how the 
scheme works out. 

Selling Direct from Factory to Consumer. — A 

large number of manufacturing concerns have built up 
profitable businesses by advertising in various publica- 
tions and dealing directly with the consumer. See Fig. 

IOI. 

Many products, especially those in the nature of 



MT'RS AGENT 




MTRS AGENT 



Fig. ioo. from the manufacturer to the manufacturer's 
agent, thence to the consumer 

machines, can be sold by this method where they could 
not be marketed in any other way. Take as an ex- 
ample the larger sizes of hand power printing presses. 
One firm has sold thousands of these machines through 
the persistent use of small advertisements where only a 
few could have been disposed of through dealers of 
any kind, for the reason that there is not a sufficient 
demand for them in any one locality. 

Any article, device or machine can be sold directly 
to the people through the medium of cleverly displayed 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 173 

advertisements placed in the right publications. When 
you get ready for an advertising campaign write to any 
advertising agent — and he also advertises — telling 
him what it is you have to sell and he will send you a 
list of the periodicals which will reach the class of 
folks who will be interested in your commodity and 
also quote you advertising rates. But of advertising 
I shall have something more to say later on. 




"ZING 

MANUFACTURER. ThE p EO PLE 

Fig. ioi. selling direct from the factory to the consumer 

Where you sell direct to the consumer you should 
also use, of course, a series of attractive pictorial 
cards, circulars, folders and booklets which describe 
your offering in terms of glowing color and cold, hard 
facts. Don't try to deceive your customers for no 
business can be conducted on misrepresentation and 
last, and besides it is just as easy to enthuse with the 
truth as it is to equivocate, not to use a harsher and 
uglier word. 1 

A series of follow-up letters should also be used and 
lists of the people you want to reach are sometimes as 
useful, and occasionally more so, in bringing results 

1 The italics are not mine. 



174 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



as advertising. In fact every art and device known to 
the system of business should be freely used where 
there are no middlemen. 

Selling Through the Trade. — The older plan for 
a large manufacturer to dispose of his goods is through 
the retail stores, but this is a. more costly and a harder 
way than by the direct method of reaching the con- 
sumer. 

The reason for this is that the manufacturer does 
not deal directly with the retailer, but must do so 
through a lot of middlemen of whom there are in some 
cases not less than three and often more. 

Figure 102 shows how many different concerns stand 




RETAILER 
FlG. 102. SELLING THROUGH THE TRADE 

between the manufacturer and those who buy his 
goods; the manufacturer turns his product over to 
the commission man who unloads it on the jobber or 
zvholesaler, who sends drummers on the road, who 
make the retailer buy it, who hands it out over the 
counter to his customers, who are merely acquaintances 
of his. 

All of the middlemen make big profits while the 
manufacturer and the retailer have to be satisfied 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 175 

with a very small margin and the consumer knows 
that he is paying several prices too many for the article 
he buys. 

The advantage, though, of handling your product 
through middlemen lies in the fact that you can very 
often get a commission man, or a jobber, to contract 
for the entire output of your factory, and sometimes 
a certainty of this kind with small fixed profits is bet- 
ter than taking a chance of putting a large sum into 
advertising with the uncertainty of large profits or of 
no profits at all. 

Getting Publicity. — Going back once more to the 
time when you have completed your model and your 
patent has just been granted, it is often a good idea to 
give some publicity to your invention. 

By publicity I mean to get some write-ups in the 
papers and some articles in the magazines and if you 
go about it the right way it will not cost you anything 
for space and sometimes the editors will even pay you 
for your contributions. 

When you have reached the stage where you want 
some publicity write up a clear description of say 500, 
1000 or 2000 words, depending on the importance and 
intricacy of your invention, and have a typewritten copy 
made of it; next have some good 5 by 7, or better, 
8 by 10 photographs made of your model from different 
viewpoints. Small kodak pictures are of no value in 
obtaining free publicity for clean-cut, large pictures, 
count for as much or more with the average editor 
than either subject matter or written copy. 



176 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

Now the kind of publications in which you will want 
your article to appear will hinge on the class of readers 
who will be interested in it. But let's suppose that it 
is a new machine, or a new electrical apparatus of some 
sort or other. If it is a machine send your typewritten 
article to the editor of the Scientific American, Wool- 
worth Building, New York; if your photos and article 
appeal to the editor as being new and novel he will 
most certainly print them in his paper. 

In an article of this kind it is not good policy to 
crack up yourself or put in your street number, as this 
savors too much of trying to get a page or so of adver- 
tising in the body of the paper free of charge; your 
name and the city where you live are enough to in- 
clude in the article, but in a letter accompanying the 
latter you can send your detailed address. And you 
can send in another article and photos to the Engineer- 
ing Magazine, 140 Nassau Street, New York; Ma- 
chinery, 140 Lafayette Street, New York, and other 
publications of a like character. 

Should your invention be electrical, or have a single 
electric element connected with it, send your article to 
the Electrical World, 239 West 39th Street and to the 
Electrical Review, 13 Park Row, both of New York, 
and the editors of either of these publications will most 
surely and gladly accommodate you with space for your 
contribution. 

The purpose of having articles appear in these tech- 
nical papers is not so much to sell your product as it is 
to give you an authentic article in a standard publica- 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 177 

tion which you can refer to and reprint from for dis- 
tribution to those whom you may want to interest 
either as partners or shareholders. Reprints are also 
useful for circularising agents or consumers after you 
have your factory in shape to take care of the orders. 

Should your invention have to do with mining send 
in your article and photographs to the mining papers, 
if it is in the notion line mail it to the dry-goods papers 
and so on for no matter what you have invented you 
will find one or more trade papers in that particular 
field who will give you the desired publicity. 

After some good technical, or trade paper has pub- 
lished an account of your invention the daily and 
weekly papers in your home-town are apt to be im- 
pressed with the importance of what you have done 
and one or all of them will give you quite a write-up. 

Advertising. — While publicity and advertising are 
one and the same thing in that both of them make 
known to the great body of buyers the merits of your 
invention I have arbitrarily divided them into two 
classes calling ( 1 ) everything that is printed as straight 
reading matter in a paper and free of charge publicity 
and (2) all that is displayed to attract the attention of 
the reader and paid for at space rates as advertising. 

You can begin an advertising campaign with a very 
small outlay of capital by running a yi inch, one 
column wide ad in ten or a dozen papers or magazines 
as a starter. To have your ad displayed as you want 
it, that is the style of type and the illustration that goes 
with it, get your local printer to set it up and have 



178 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

as many electrotypes made from it as there are papers 
you intend to buy space in. Then all you have to do 
is to mail one of these electrotypes to the publisher and 
it appears in his paper exactly like the type from which 
it was made and it can be used over and over again. 

This stereotyped kind of an ad which meets the 
reader's eye in nearly every publication he picks up 
will finally get through the pores of the calcium salts 
which form his skull and impress the sensative area of 
his brain, or, to use the language Evelyn doesn't like, 
it gets on his nerves and he will read it. Every time 
he sees it after that he will remember its message and 
then when the psychological moment arrives and he 
wants your product he will send to you either for a 
catalogue and price-list or for the thing itself. 

Larger ads should have the reading matter and the 
cut changed frequently, but it is always well to use 
some design, or a name (see Chapter XII), which 
stands out boldly in relief so that it will flag the atten- 
tion of the reader immediately he turns to the page 
where it is displayed. The rest of the ad must then be 
catchy enough to induce him, or her, who sees it to 
read it, and last of all it should contain some gem or 
germ of knowledge which he, or she, will carry away 
and think over and always to the end for which your 
ad was written and designed — and .that is to buy your 
product. 

Writing alluring ads requires inventive ability but 
of an order very different from that which produces 
a new machine. Hence there are inventors who make 



PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET 179 

a specialty of writing ads but they are content to call 
themselves originators. 

Should you have a product that you intend to give 
wide publicity to, whether it is your intention to sell 
to the consumer direct or to sell to him through the 
retail trade, it is a good plan to engage the services of 
an advertising firm to conduct the campaign for you. 

If you are going to spend $1,000 or $100,000 on 
making your product known among men and women 
and popularizing it so that everybody will buy it, or 
wants to buy it, it is well to have an advertising agent 
or firm get up the ads, place them in the papers where 
they will do the most good — in a word engineer the 
whole thing for you while you are superintending your 
factory and your partner is taking care of the orders 
— then all you have got to do is to count the shekels 
that roll in or out as the case may be. 



CHAPTER X 
THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 

All through this book I have done my best to 
nickelplate you in the bath of my own experience and 
I believe I have made everything clear unless it is just 
how to get the big idea. 

And even if I could give you a hard and fast rule 
for thinking up new and novel things I have grave 
fears I would be tempted to keep that bit of informa- 
tion to myself and start up an idea factory in opposi- 
tion to Edison. 

But while it is not yet possible to lay down a law 
for the creation of an original idea it may prove of 
some value to tell you something about what is needed 
both small and large and this in itself may serve to 
stimulate your thought centers to activity. 

As you look about and see all the different materials, 
apparatus and machines that have been invented to 
make work easier, to save time or goods and to in- 
crease safety and comfort you may on first thought 
conclude that everything the human race really needs 
has been invented and this is in a large measure true. 

But the secret of present day inventing was let out 
of the bag by Edison when he said that " hardly any 
piece of machinery now manufactured is more than 10 

180 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 181 

per cent, perfect." Certainly the electric lights we 
now have are good enough as far as the light goes but 
light costs us ten times as much as it ought to cost for 
the reason that 90 per cent, of the energy there is in a 
ton of coal is wasted and only 10 per cent, of it is 
transformed into actual light. 

Oliver Lodge, England's greatest electrician, once 
said that if we knew how the glow worm makes his 
light then a boy could turn a machine that would de- 
velop enough electricity to light a factory. The prob- | 
lem for you to tackle then is not to make a better light 
but to make a cheaper light. 

And what Edison has said about machines and 
Lodge has said about light, I say is just as true of 
everything else we have for lessening labor, for saving 
time and materials, making for safety and adding to 
comfort. Everything that has been invented up to the 
present time, with very few exceptions, such as the 
electric motor which is 98 per cent, efficient, can be 
made nearly 90 per cent, better. 

This gives you your cue for inventing, that is to J 
conceive and improve upon what has been done rather 
than to sap your life's blood and waste time, which is 
just as precious if you only know it, in trying to invent 
something entirely new and original under the shining 
sun. 

Nor do you need to undertake to improve upon the 
big things — unless, of course, you get a great idea 
and you feel that the world can't get along without it 
and that you would lose a fortune unless you straight- 



i82 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

away developed it. Otherwise just keep your eagle 
eye on the lookout and your inventive brain cells on the 
alert and it will not be long before you will see some- 
thing where there is room for improvement. 

Some Little Things Needed. — For the Person. — 
There isn't a thing you wear, or carry in your pockets, 
or use in making your toilet but which can be im- 
proved upon. 

Your suspenders, your corset, cuff buttons, dress- 
shields, necktie clasp, hose supports, garters, hat pins, 
collar buttons, eye glasses and eye-glass guards, hair 




A 

Fig. i 03 a. old style tooth brush 
flg. i03b. an improved tooth brush 

curlers or straighteners according to the dictates of 
fashion, jewelry guards, fasteners for clothing, clothes 
hangers and clothes presses ought all to be done over 
and re-invented. 

A better way to clean teeth, see Fig 103, to shampoo 
the head, to manicure nails, to wash backs and to shine 
shoes should all have attention. Improvements in 
false teeth and in making the deaf hear are in order; 
but it is just as well to keep away from inventions to 
make the hair grow and to remove freckles. 

For the House. — You can help to save mother's 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 183 

time and conserve her strength by inventing any of the 
following devices and besides you'll make enough 
money so that she won't have to use them and that will 
be still better. 

Odorless cooking utensils, candy making apparatus, 
visible ovens, dish washer, ironing machine, soap saver, 
milk jar seal, fish scaler, fire extinguisher, water cooler, 




FlG. IO4A. THE OLD WAY — THE CARPET SWEEPER 
FlG. IO4E. THE NEW WAY — THE VACUUM CLEANER 

water purifier, cheap ice machine, ice crusher, window 
cleaner, silver cleaning apparatus, vacuum cleaner, see 
Fig. 104, knife sharpener, fountain scrub brush and all 
kinds of handy tools are needed. 

A self-serving dining room table that will let the 
folks eat instead of keeping every one busy waiting on 
everybody else between bites should and undoubtedly 
would find a large sale. 

For the Farm. — Improved farm machinery has 
made the farmers and the inventors rich and impor- 
tant but the little things around the farm have been 



184 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



sadly neglected and if some one doesn't come to its 
rescue pretty soon it will go to rack and ruin. 

A substitute for leather, mail conveyer to carry mail 
from the road to the house, a painting machine, see 
Fig. 105, cheap fence posts, fattening apparatus for 




FlG. 105. A LABOR SAVING PAINTING MACHINE 

chickens, insect exterminators, portable fences, nests 
and coops for chickens, traps for preying birds, par- 
cels post cartons for butter and eggs, incubators, 
brooders, cream separators, milking machines, and 
everything else used on the farm can be made more 
efficient than the present apparatus and machines which 
are now used. 

For the Office. — There was once a time when a 
shingle swinging in the breeze, a desk, a chair and a 
spittoon constituted an office, but those halcyon days of 
Lincoln and Douglas, Calhoun and Webster are gone 
forever. 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 185 

What is needed now are not brains so much as an 
improved file case, time stamp, check protector, gum- 
less mucilage bottle, inkwell that cleans the pen, safety 
envelope that can't be opened without detection, mailing 
boxes and tubes, envelope inserting and folding ma- 
chine, duplicating processes for typewritten copy, en- 




FlG. 106. A QUICK FIGURING AND BOOKKEEPING MACHINE 

velope opener, improved dictaphones, that is phono- 
graphs for dictating to stenographers, and figuring and 
bookkeeping machines; see Fig. 106. 

For Fun. — There is a great demand for toys and 
amusement devices and novelties of all kinds. 

Little 5 and 10 cent jokes, like the snake jar, shadow 
dancer, shooting pack of cards, rubber dagger, see Fig. 
107, and the musical seat, puzzles like the beast, the 



186 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

star and crescent, Billy Possum, devil lock and Chinese 
conjuring rings and games, tricks, magical advertising 
novelties and the like are profitable in a small and 
sometimes' in a big way. 

Merry-go-round, shoot-the-chutes, bump-the-bumps, 
see Fig. 108, dips and slides are some of the larger 




FlG. 107. A RUBBER DAGGER, AN AMUSING TOY 

amusement inventions that have been making money 
at summer and seaside resorts. ( What you must do is 
to provide other new and novel means for the fun lov- 
ing people to do ridiculous stunts and pay you for the 
privilege. 

Now while all of the above devices have been in- 
vented and patented the point is that every one of 
them has a bug, that is a flaw in it somewhere; by 
which I mean that in each and every case, except the 
toys and amusements, the device is too hard to work, 
costs too much, takes too much time, is too trouble- 
some, is too poorly made or is not as comfortable as 
the old-fashioned thing. 

It is your business as an inventor to improve it so 
that your device will do the work or serve the purpose 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 187 

better than it has ever been done before. In order to 
improve a compound, device or machine to this extent 
you will have to introduce some new principle, or ele- 
ment into it and it is this added cause, or part in com- 
bination with the other and well-known arrangements 




FlG. 108. BUMPING-THE-BUMPS 

that gives it a new and novel twist and for which you 
pray that letters patent may be granted. 

Some Big Inventions Needed. — Safety First. — 
That there were 38,000 deaths, 500,000 seriously in- 
jured and 2,000,000 slightly injured persons caused by 
all manner of accidents in 191 5, shows how badly im- 
provements are needed for all kinds of machinery, 
in the operation of mines, railroads and steamships and 
in the manufacture of certain chemical products such 
as phosphorus matches and dynamite. There is money 
and lots of it in inventions that have for their object 
the safeguarding of human health, limb and life. Fig. 
109 shows a life-saving gun. 

Automobiles. — The automobile is the speed ma- 



188 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

chine of to-day. Pneumatic tires, transmission gears 
and differentials, must go for they are bothersome, 
complicated and costly. An engine without poppet 
valves, carburetor, high tension ignition system and 
water cooling system with its expensive radiator would 
be most welcome. A magnetic clutch that does away 
with the transmission gears is shown in Fig. no. 




Fig. 109. A NOVEL LIFE-SAVING gun 

A cheap substitute for gasoline is heartily to be 
hoped for and inventors are searching for it now. 
The engine of the future will be driven by some high 
explosive mixture each ingredient of which will be per- 
fectly harmless in itself but when the fractional part of 
a drop of each chemical is mixed with the other in the 
cylinder of the engine they will combine and explode 
violently. 

Aviation. — The aeroplane is the speed machine of 
to-morrow. The great requirement of the present 
time in the flying machine is inherent stability, which 
means that it is so designed that it will not overturn, 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 189 




FlG. I IO. THE OWEN MAGNETIC CLUTCH 

or if overturned it will right itself of its own accord. 
Fig. in shows a gyro-stabilizer for this purpose. 

After stability the next most desirable improvement 
needed in an aeroplane is one that will make it rise from 
the ground at a far larger angle from the horizontal, 
that is fly more nearly straight up than those that are 
built at the present time. A better engine, an easier 
way of starting and a surer way of alighting, are next 
in order. 




FlG. III. A GYRO-STABILIZER FOR MAKING AN AEROPLANE KEEP 
ITS BALANCE 



1 9° 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



Chemistry. — There are unlimited possibilities in 
chemistry for making big inventions. A method to 
produce cheap liquid air, see Fig. 112, would revolu- 
tionize many industries. Radium which is worth $1,- 
000,000 a pound, or thereabouts, is plentiful in nature 
and requires some simpler method only for its cheap 
extraction. But both of the above are very hard 
things to do. 





FlG. 112. A LIQUID AIR MACHINE 
FlG. II3A. THE CHEAPEST FORM OF LIGHT 

Artificial milk, tea, coffee and eggs, the extraction of 
caffeine from coffee, thein from tea and nicotine from 
tobacco — which are the harmful chemicals in these 
products, a cheap method of producing artificial ice, or 
refrigeration without ice, a substance to denature alco- 
hol are only a few of the things to be invented in chem- 
istry. 

Synthetic chemistry, that is the artificial production 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 191 

of real rubber, camphor, diamonds, rubies and other 
precious stones, dye-stuffs and other products hereto- 
fore supplied only by nature, also offers a large and 
fascinating field for the inventive chemist. 

Electricity. — There are hundreds, if not thousands 
of electrical inventors who are busier than a swarm of 
bees in a field of clover, but there is enough left for 




FlG. II3B. A TUBE SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC LIGHTS 

all of them and as many more to do if they worked in 
eight hour shifts until the dawn of the millennium. 

An apparatus for dispelling fogs by electricity, tele- 
vision, or transmitting sight by electricity, cheap elec- 
tric lights, see Fig. 113, a simple telautograph, or writ- 
ing telegraph, a means for directing wireless telegraph 
and telephone messages, automatic block signals which 



192 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



operate in the engine driver's cab and are positive in 
action, transmitting pictures by wireless and a cheap 
and powerful generator of sustained electric oscillations 
by a battery or other low voltage current, all these 
needs show that there is still plenty of room for im- 
provement. 

Electro-Chemistry. — In this field of endeavor the 
things that are needed would fill a large book and many 




FlG. II4. FARMING BY WIRELESS. THE HIGH TENSION 
ELECTRIC GENERATOR 

things that will come have not even been dreamed of 
yet. 

A few that I can think of is a self-charging primary 
battery, a light weight storage battery, a way to pro- 
duce electricity direct from coal, a scheme to prevent 
electrolysis in underground pipes, the electrification of 
farming lands to make forty bushels of rye grow 
where only one was sown, see Fig. 114, to store up 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 193 

electrical energy from the sun and the production of 
entirely new and unheard of substances in the electric 
furnace. 

Building. — In the building line heating, ventilation 
and drainage are all open to great improvement. 
Glass that can be bent to shape and which cannot be 
so easily broken is much needed while fireproof ma- 




FlG. 115. CUTTING STEEL GIRDERS WITH THE OXY-ACETYLENE 
PROCESS 

terials and fire protection leave much to the inventor to 
perfect. Even improvements are needed for wreck- 
ing buildings as will be seen in Fig. 115. 

Mining and Metallurgy. — Safety appliances are of 
the first importance in mine inventions, see Fig. 116, 
and after these, machines for labor saving should re- 
ceive attention. If you understand mining, be it for 



194 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

coal, metals or gems, you will see that there is yet much 
to be done to make the operations safer, more saving 
and less laborious. 

After the ore is mined, the metal must be separated 
from it and this is largely a matter of chemistry and 
mechanical devices. Saving is the watchword for the 
inventor who would improve the present methods and 
processes. If you can show how a saving of metal 




Fig. 116. an apparatus for the prevention of mine disasters. 
It records the presence of gas 

can be effected or how the same amount can be ex- 
tracted more cheaply you are the boy the owners are 
looking for and you can name your own price, nearly. 

An alloy for armor which will deflect projectiles, 
steel rolls which will roll and straighten sheets and rails 
with one handling, a process for extracting metals 
from low grade ores, a process for making small brass, 
iron or steel castings in much the same manner that a 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 195 

linotype machine casts a type slug, are all improve- 
ments for you to think about even if you don't try to 
invent them. 

Printing. — The noble art of printing has been 
brought to such a high degree of perfection it would 
seem to leave little to be invented. But like all the 
arts and sciences there is yet much to be done. 

A few gentle hints in this direction is the need of a 




FlG. 117. A STEEL PLATE ENGRAVING MACHINE 

One boy does the work of four men 

three color printing press, machines for engraving steel 
plates, see Fig. 117, and presses for printing from 
them, power copper plate presses, printing without ink 
by means of electricity and bookbinding, electrotyping 
and typefoundry processes and machinery; all these, 
and many more need looking into. 

Moving Pictures. — Three great improvements must 



196 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

be made in the moving picture industry before it will 
take on anything like perfection, and these are (i) a 
film that is not easily broken, is as transparent as 
glass and is fire proof; (2) pictures that are photo- 
graphed on the film and projected on the screen in 
their natural colors, and (3) moving pictures that are 
made and projected on the principle of the stereo- 
scope so that the picture will stand out true to life in 




FlG. Il8. AN ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THE MOVIES 

This machine uses glass slides instead of films 

color, time and space. The last word in moving pic- 
ture machines at this writing is shown in Fig. 118. 

All of the above improvements have been made but 
they are each of them very crude and they must be re- 
improved to a very great extent before they can be 
successfully shown in theaters. I do not believe any 
attempt has yet been made to combine the three features 
in a single machine. 

Other Fields of Endeavor. — There are many other 
fields that are just as full of promise for the inventor 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 197 



as those I have cited and among them may be named 
railways and steamships, boilers and engines, bridge 
building, munitions of war, textile and boot and shoe 
machinery, medical and dental apparatus and instru- 
ments, devices for the postal service, musical instru- 
ments, vending machines and the utilization of by-pro- 




J 




FlG. II9. THE WIRELESS TRANSMISSION OF POWER 

Tesla's tower at Wardencliffe, Long Island 

ducts. Verily there is everything under the heavens 
for you to improve if you will but find out a new 
means, devise a scheme, discover by art, contrive by 
ingenuity or, in a nutshell, originate an idea, work it 
out, patent it and beat the other fellow to it. 

What Not to Invent. — If you have but little time, 
small means and are without tools it were better not to 
get too big an idea for your first invention. Try out 



198 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

your genius on some simple thing, that is if you can. 
Of course should some great improvement strike 
you it would be folly to drop it simply because you 
happened to be handicapped in two or three several 
little ways. When in such a predicament you must 
rise above the level of mediocrity and circumstance and 
invent a plan to raise the necessary funds to go ahead 
with your experimental work. 




Fig. 120A. A perpetual motion machine, (impractical of 
course) 

But whether you have or have not the quick capital 
of your own to draw on there are some things you 
should not try to invent — that is if you are an in- 
ventor for the financial profits you expect to accrue 
from your work. If you are doing it purely as a 
scientist that is a horse of quite another color and 
some scientific society may present you with a medal 
in a plush lined case and its Transactions will laud you 
for your unselfish work. 



THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT 199 

Such schemes as extracting gold from the salt water 
of the sea, milking electricity directly from the ether, 
blowing up ships at a distance by means of invisible 
waves, making a phonotypograph which will, when 
spoken into, print what you have said on a sheet of 
paper, printing without type by means of the X-rays, 
sending wireless messages to Mars and the wireless 




■■^•^'^•^'"^"'^4d-"J^ ij^si^ 



FlG. I20B. PERPETUAL MOTION AS SEEN BY A PATENT- ATTORNEY 
( HYPER-THEORETICAL) 

transmission of power, see Fig. 119, are all good 
things to let alone. 

Not because these innovations are impossible to in- 
vent — they will all come into general use some day 
— but because it is not given to any inventor to work 
a single one of them out alone and so I say don't 
try to unless you are a real Simon pure scientist. 

And as a last piece of advice don't try to invent 
that monstrous impossibility — perpetual motion. 



CHAPTER XI 
WHAT SOME INVENTIONS HAVE PAID 

One of the most alluring and sky-blue delights, 
next to working out a big idea of your own, is to read 
about the fortunes that other inventors have piled up 
by the simple use of their grey matter. 

The stories of what they did and how they did it are 
far redder blooded and more gripping than any old 
sleuth yarn ever put between paper covers ; but differ- 
ent from this kind of yellow fiction they are all true, 
their heroes are all real and each one had a great idea 
burning in his brain, like St. Elmo's fire, and each had 
the business ability to transmute it into solid gold, 
twenty- four carats fine. 

And it is not time wasted in harking back to what 
other inventors have done if you will but heed the 
lesson that they teach for their v/orks stand out like 
guide-posts by day and signal-lights by night which 
point the way for you to go and do the same thing if 
you will only quit dreaming, get busy with your experi- 
ments and be careful not to run into any open switches. 

A Tour of the Inventive World.— Nor need an in- 
vention be a large one to make money though of course 
the great inventions — those that have given the world 
all the civilization it has had or is likely to have for 
some centuries to come — have, as a rule, been the 

200 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 201 

greatest producers of wealth for those who worked 
them out. 

So now suppose we make a personally conducted 
tour around the world of inventions and take a look at 
a few of the wonders which prove that thoughts are 
things and that things are money, that is when you 
know how to convert one into the other. And the 
route we will take will show us some small inventions 
as we go and we will see a few of the big inventions on 
our return to home and laboratory. 

Little Inventions. — To begin with let us lead off 
with the smallest and least important inventions, 
though they also serve a purpose, and these are to be 
found in toys, games and other things for pleasure. 

First is the return ball, which consisted of a piece 
of rubber strand fastened to a wooden ball ; this simple 
invention, so 'tis said, paid its inventor $50,000 a year 
in royalties for a long time, and so he waxed fat and 
grew rich. 

Such toys as the dancing dolls, the wheel of life and 
the chameleon top brought their respective inventors 
even larger sums, while the roller skate which Plimpton 
improved and made popular by his invention of cramp- 
ing the wheels netted him $1,000,000 in royalties and 
so you need not feel sorry for him. 

Simple Inventions. — The next class of inventions 
I shall call your attention to is just as simple but they 
are different from toys in that they are useful. 

Among them may be named our friend of infant 
days, the safety pin, the rubber tip for lead pencils, the 



202 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

cork nose shield for eyeglasses, the grooved steel rib 
for umbrellas, the stylographic pen, the glass lemon 
squeezer, paper clips, hook fasteners for shoes and the 
shipping tag reinforced around the hole which Denni- 
son invented and still sells by the carload. 

All of these little things and ten thousand others 
which you would hardly think were worth inventing 
have built up fortunes for those who thought of them 
and, more to their credit, were able to see that a future 
awaited them. 

Real Inventions. — In passing we come to some 
small but none-the-less real inventions such as the 
spring roller window shade, automatic ink stand in 
which the ink is always at the same level, barbed wire 
fences, Mrs. Potts' sad iron — the one with the at- 
tachable and detachable handle, the paragon umbrella 
frame, etc. 

To the right you will see some inventions of a more 
complex kind such as the check protector, mimeograph, 
time stamp, combination lock, fountain pen, computing 
scale, compressed air rock drill, cash register, the comp- 
tometer and a thousand other devices we see in use or 
use ourselves every day. Many of them are small but 
each and every one produced anywhere from $10,000 
to $1,000,000 for its inventor. 

Great Inventions. — The Steam Engine, Locomo- 
tive, and Steamboat. — How the steam engine was in- 
vented by Watt, how the locomotive was invented by 
Stephenson and how the steamboat was invented by 
Fulton are pretty well known. 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 203 

Just how much these great pioneer inventors re- 
ceived in actual cash for their efforts I cannot say off- 
hand but it was not large when compared with the 
fortunes inventors have since made. But their names 
are writ large in the hall of fame, not the one at the 
New York University which doesn't count, but in the 
hall of fame of progress and civilization which is the 
only one that really matters. 

The Telegraph. — The telegraph was invented by 
Samuel F. B. Morse in 1832 but it was not until 1844 
that he had a line working from Washington to Balti- 
more. After long years of litigation his patent rights 
were upheld by the courts and much wealth and more 
fame accrued to him. 

The Perfecting Press. — The first webb printing 
press, that is a press using a zveb, or continuous strip 
of paper, was invented by Bullock in 1845 an d this 
the Hoe Brothers improved upon until the zveb perfect- 
ing press was evolved by them in 1846 and which 
revolutionized the printing of newspapers. The Hoe 
factory is the largest maker of printing presses 
in the world to-day. 

The Sewing Machine. — After many experiments by 
others the sewing machine was invented by Elias 
Howe and patented by him in 1846. Like every other 
inventor who has a really great thing his patents were 
attacked in the court and for eight years he lived in 
poverty. When the courts finally found in his favor 
he made millions out of the royalties on his labor sav- 
ing invention. 



204 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

The Ice Machine. — The first machine for mak- 
ing ice was invented by A. C. Twining in which 
ethyl ether was used for the compressed gas and for 
which a patent was granted in 1850. In 1867 an ice 
machine was made by Ferdinand Carre which used 
liquid ammonia for the compressed gas and from that 
date on the artificial production of ice on a commercial 
scale really began. Whether these two inventors made 
fortunes out of their brain children I cannot say, but 
this I know, that tens of millions have flowed into the 
coffers of those who commercialized their work. 

The Steel Process. — The process of converting iron 
into steel cheaply and in quantities was invented by 
Henry Bessemer who patented it in 1855. It was the 
Bessemer process which made it possible to use steel 
for rails and structural purposes generally. The in- 
ventor grew rich beyond the dreams of the romancer 
and the steel industry has made multimillionaires of all 
its captains. 

The Gas Engine. — Many inventions for using gas 
as the motive power for engines were made before 
1 86 1 but it was not until that year that N. A. Otto built 
a working model of a gas engine in which the ex- 
plosive gases were mixed, compressed, and ignited in 
one cylinder when the waste gases were exhausted from 
it. The Otto gas engine became a commercial success 
in 1878 and netted the inventor many millions. 

The Dynamo and Motor. — The principle on which 
the dynamo electric machine works was discovered by 
Faraday in 183 1. In 1866 both Wilde and Siemens 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 205 

built dynamos, but it was Gramme who made the 
dynamo a commercial machine by inventing the ring 
armature, which he did in 1870. Then some genius, 
or bonehead, no one seems to know which, found that 
when a current was passed through a dynamo it be- 
came a motor. From 1880 inventions for electric 
light, heat and power advanced by leaps and bounds 
and everybody that invented anything at all worth 
while in the electrical line got rich quick. 

The Air Brake. — The air brake to stop and con- 
trol the speed of trains was invented by Westinghouse 
in 1869. He had hard work getting any railroad to 
give it a trial but once that this was done it very 
quickly came into general use. Next to the safety 
valve it was the first important safety device applied 
to railroads. It has in the past and is still piling up 
millions for its inventor. 




FlG. 121. THE FIRST TELEPHONE 

The Telephone. — The first use of the word tele- 
phone was made by Charles Wheatstone in 1834, who 
applied it to a musical instrument otherwise known as 
the magic lyre. In 1854 Charles Bourseul suggested 
a way to make a speaking telephone, and in i860 
Johanne Phillip Reis constructed a telephone apparatus 



206 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



along the line of Bourseul's idea; while this instru- 
ment reproduced musical tones it would not reproduce 
the human voice. 

Alexander Graham Bell began working on the 
problem in 1874 and invented the first electric speak- 
ing telephone which he patented, showed in opera- 
tion at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 
1876 and shortly after a company was formed to float 




Fig. 122. 



THE ORIGINAL. TYPEWRITING MACHINE PATENTED BY 
W. A. BURT, JULY 23, 1 829 



it. Edison made a big improvement in the telephone 
in 1878 when he invented the carbon transmitter. 
Other rivals appeared in the field and after long years 
of costly law suits the rights of Bell were sustained 
by the courts and the Bell Telephone Company has had 
a practical monopoly of the business in this country 
ever since. The invention made Bell and its owners 
enormously wealthy. 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 207 

The Typezvriter. — This useful machine was in- 
vented by Charles Thurber in 1843, but it was not 
until about 1875 that a practical machine was put on 
the market. Millions of dollars have been made out 
of the typewriter industry, subsequent inventors com- 
ing in for their big shares, but it is doubtful if the 
original inventor received anything more than honor- 
able mention in the encyclopaedias and a monument in 
some cemetery for the great benefit he conferred on 
mankind. 

The Phonograph. — This wonderful instrument for 
recording and reproducing speech and other sounds 
was invented by Edison in 1877 and improved by him 




FlG. I23. THE FIRST PHONOGRAPH 

in 1888. In 1887 Emile Berliner invented and 
patented the graphophone in which the vibrations are 
recorded on a disk instead of on a cylinder as it is in 
the Edison phonograph. 

The phonograph was placed on the market in 1888 
and the manufacture of graphophones began in 1897 
when both the machines and the records became popu- 
lar and rapidly grew into a great industry. The 
phonograph is only one of Edison's 700 inventions 
and from some or all of them he has amassed a fortune 



208 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

of $10,000,000, and Berliner, who is also an inventor 
of renown, is very wealthy. 

The Storage Battery. — Like many other great in- 
ventions the storage battery has made millions, but 
from the time it was invented by Gaston Plante in i860 
until it became a commercial product in 1880 was too 
long a stretch for the originator to have received his 
just reward. But those who followed with their little 
and big improvements made small and large fortunes 
out of them when the Electric Storage Battery Com- 
pany of Philadelphia was organized to take over all 
the smaller concerns. 

The Snap-Shot Camera. — The snap-shot camera, or 
kodak, is not an invention of magnitude but Eastman 
who invented it about 1880 has through his business 
ability made it a money-maker second only to inven- 
tions of great utility. So rich is his company that it 
paid $300,000 for the simple invention of enabling a 
kodak user to write a record on each film when it was 
exposed. 

The Steam Turbine. — The steam turbine dates 
back to the time of Hero, that is 120 years b. c, and 
the place of its birth was Alexandria, Egypt. It con- 
sisted of a copper ball pivoted on trunnions. Pro- 
jecting from opposite sides of its equator were two 
bent pipes and when the ball was partly filled with 
water and heated the steam would spout out of the 
bent pipes and on striking the air it reacted on the ball 
and this caused it to revolve at a high-speed. For this 
reason Hero's engine was called a reaction turbine. 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 209 

In 1705 Branca, an Italian, invented a steam tur- 
bine in which a jet of steam was forced through a 
nozzle and impinged on the vanes of a paddle-wheel, 
the impact of the steam causing it to revolve. Hence 
this kind of a turbine is called an impact turbine. 

The first steam turbine to be built and operated as 
a competitor of the reciprocating engine was made by 
De Laval in 1883. It was a reaction turbine and it re- 
volved at a tremendously high speed. Parsons of 
England brought out in 1884 the first multiple ex- 
pansion turbine which combined the reaction and the 
impulse types. It made 18,000 revolutions per minute 
and was directly connected to an electric lighting 
dynamo. In a little over thirty years the steam tur- 
bine reached a degree of perfection and economy not 
attained in the two hundred odd years of development 
of the reciprocating engine and it is now used for driv- 
ing the largest steamships. 

The Automobile. — The so-called daddy of the 
automobile is George B. Selden ; he built his first self- 
moving wagon in 1878 and applied for a patent on it. 
He did not let this patent issue, however, but kept it 
alive in the Patent Office until 1895 when in that year 
automobiles began to be made and used and he then 
had the patent granted to him. 

His next step was to sell licenses to the various 
gasoline engine automobile manufacturers who paid 
him a royalty on each machine sold and in this very 
easy and genteel manner he accumulated much money. 
But there were some manufacturers who refused to 



210 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

recognize his patent rights and hence refused to pay 
him royalty. Henry Ford of Detroit was the leader 
of these rebellious souls and a bitter patent suit re- 
sulted in which the courts first decided for Selden 
and then against him and this ended his monopoly. 

Ford organized the Ford Motor Company and at 
this writing it is the largest manufacturer of auto- 
mobiles in the world. It employs 16,000 men and 
turns out 1000 automobiles a day. Mr. Ford has so 
much money he doesn't know what to do with it, but 
his great wealth is based upon his business ability and 
not upon any patents he may have. 

The Incandescent Light. — The first electric incan- 
descent lamp that was made used a platinum wire for 




FlG. 124. FIRST INCANDESCENT LIGHT 

the filament. J. W. Starr substituted a carbon -fila- 
ment for the platinum wire, but the first successful in- 
candescent lamp was produced by Edison in 1879 after 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 211 

he had made over 2000 experiments in order to find a 
suitable fiber for the filament. In order to be able 
to use the incandescent lamps, Edison designed a new 
system of distributing the current through several cir- 
cuits and between any number of lamps. 

The lamps of to-day have filaments of tungsten and 
these are sealed in bulbs filled with nitrogen and which 
together greatly increases the candle-power and at the 
same time uses less current. In 1882 the Pearl Street 
Edison station in New York was put into service and 
was the first of the great central stations. The 
Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago is the 
largest electric lighting system in the world. There 
are four stations and together they have an output 
of 320,000 kilowatts, or 430,000 horsepower. 

The Electric Railway. — The first attempt to build 
a railway operated by electricity was made by Thomas 
Davenport, a Vermont blacksmith in 1835. Next, C. 
T. Page made a sixteen horsepower electric locomotive 
in 1850 and when it was tried out on the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad it ran at a speed of nineteen miles an 
hour. Batteries were used in both cases to supply the 
current. 

The Trolley Car. — The first practical overhead 
electric line was shown in Chicago in 1883 by C. J. 
Van Depoele and about the same time Leo Daft built 
a third-rail line from Saratoga Springs, N. Y., to 
Mount McGregor, while a conduit line was built by 
Bently and Knight in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1884 the 
first practical trolley line was built in Kansas City and 



212 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

from this time on horse- and mule-drawn cars were 
doomed, except on West Street in New York City 
where they are still used to hold down a franchise. 

There were in 19 12 about 41,000 miles of track 
operated by electricity in the United States; over 
76,000 passenger cars were in service and 12,100,000 
passengers were carried, all of which goes to show that 
there is money in electrical inventions for somebody. 

The Electric Locomotive. — The 1913 type of 
electric locomotive used on the New York Central is 
fifty-seven feet long, weighs no tons, has eight motors 
of 325 horsepower each, which are mounted on four 
trucks and driving eight axles. This powerful loco- 
motive is capable of hauling a train of 1200 tons at a 
speed of sixty miles an hour on a straight level track. 
The stockholders of the General Electric Company of 
Schenectady, N. Y., profited by their building. 

The Linotype. — The linotype is a machine that is 
operated like a typewriter and makes a slug or a 
solid line of type from metal type-bars each of which 
has a letter on it. These type-bars are then properly 
spaced and melted type metal is run into the matrix 
they form. This wonderful machine is the invention 
of Ottmar Mergenthaler who began working on it in 
1876 and completed the machine in 1886. Thousands 
of linotype machines are in use at the present time 
and it goes without saying that the inventor was richly 
rewarded for his hard labors. 

Moving Pictures. — The moving-picture industry, 
which is the third largest in the United States, came 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 213 

into being through the following inventions : In 1845 
a toy called the zoetrope, or wheel-of-life, was in- 
vented; it was so made that when a series of draw- 
ings showing the different positions of, say, a horse 
in motion was viewed through a number of vertical 
slits in a rapidly revolving cylinder the horse would 
appear to be running. It was truly a moving picture. 

The next step was taken by Eadweard Muybridge 
in 1877, who was the first to make a series of in- 
stantaneous photographs of a horse in motion, and in 
this way he showed the true position of the animal 
at different instants of its gait, but since there was no 
exactness in timing the intervals between the expo- 
sures of the dry plates — the film had not yet been in- 
vented — they could not have been used for moving 
pictures. 

The photographic gelatine film having come into 
use, Edison, in 1893, invented two machines, the 
kinetograph which was a camera for taking successive 
pictures of moving objects, and the kinctoscope which 
allowed the pictures made on the film by the kineto- 
graph to be viewed. The kinetoscope showed each 
picture on the film to the eye for about /ioth of a 
minute, so that the figures seemed to move as in actual 
life. And this is the way the moving-picture industry 
was born. It was easy to combine a projecting lantern 
and a kinetoscope so that the little photographs on the 
film could be thrown on a screen and enlarged and 
this is the principle of all moving-picture machines as 
they are now constructed. 



214 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



The moving-picture business has taken a tremendous 
hold on the public all over the world. This is shown 
by the fact that in 19 14 the distributers for three of 
the largest film makers handled 75 per cent, of the 
films released and are said to have received $15,000,000 
for them. In 19 15 the daily average attendance of 




FlG. 125. THE COLLINS WIRELESS TELEPHONE. SHOWN AT THE MAD- 
ISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, ELECTRICAL SHOW, OCTOBER, I908 

moving-picture shows in the United States was about 
5,000,000 people. 

The Wireless Telegraph. — The wireless telegraph 
was invented by William Marconi, who showed a set 
in operation, in 1896, between the General Post-office 
and the Thames embankment in London, the distance 
being about 300 feet. Since that time he has been 



WHAT SOME INVENTIONS PAID 215 

almost constantly engaged in patent suits with in- 
fringers. 

Since then the signaling range has been increased 
until now a regular telegraph service without wires is 
carried on across the Atlantic. I do not know how well 
the inventor fared financially but whatever the amount 
he got, it was not nearly enough for his great work. 

The Wireless Telephone. — The wireless telephone^ 
was invented by the author of this book in 1899 when 
he telephoned without wires between two stations in 
Narberth, Pa., a distance of about three blocks. Dur- 
ing the past year the human voice has been transmitted 
without wires from Arlington, near Washington, D. 
C, eastward to Paris, France, and from Arlington as 
far westward as Honolulu, Hawaii. Patent litigation, 
patent hold-ups and government persecution have been 
my lot. I know about the amount I made out of my 
invention but I won't tell. 

The Aeroplane. — The aeroplane was invented by the 
Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville. They began 
their experiments in flying on the sand-dunes of Kitty 
Hawk, N. C, in 1900. Their first efforts were made 
with a glider fitted with elevation planes and after 
having developed the balancing instinct they installed 
a gasoline motor in the glider and this drove two pro- 
pellers at the rear of the machine. 

With this new born aeroplane they made the first 
motor-driven, man-carrying flight in 1903 — a flight 
that lasted a small fraction of a minute. From this 
time on records and necks were broken by other fliers 
who tried to outdo their rivals and undo themselves. 



CHAPTER XII 

PROFITABLE INFORMATION 

Design Patents. — Should you invent, or devise a 
new and original design for an object, be it a work of 
art, a fabric, a piece of jewelry or even a machine, 
you can obtain a design patent if it has artistic merit. 




FlG. 126. ILLUSTRATION FOR A DESIGN PATENT, DRAWN ON A SHEET 
OF CARD-BOARD SIZE IOXI5 INCHES 

Design patents run for a term of 3^2, or for 7, or 
for 14 years as you wish and care to pay for. The 
patent attorney's fees for writing the specification, 
making the drawing and seeing the patent application 

216 



PROFITABLE INFORMATION 217 

through the patent office is usually $20 regardless of 
the term it is to run; the government fee is $10 for 
3/^ years, $15 for 7 years and $30 for 14 years, mak- 
ing the total cost of such patents $30, $35 and $50 re- 
spectively. 

Assignments. — If you want to you may sell or as- 
sign a part or the whole of your invention before you 
file an application for a patent, or you may do the same 
thing while your application is pending in the patent 
office. 

Such an interest in your invention and patent rights 
may be disposed of by a complete assignment, by grant- 
ing territorial rights, by mortgage, or by shop or other 
licenses. In whatever way the assignment, grant or 
conveyance is made it must be recorded in the patent 
office or it will not be valid. 

Caveats. — A Caveat can no longer be filed in 
the patent office, the law relating to them having been 
repealed July 1, 1910. Before this time an inventor 
who had not completed his invention could file a Caveat 
in the archives of the patent office where it was kept 
a secret for one year, and the time could be renewed 
from year to year. 

The purpose of a Caveat was to give the inventor 
more time to work out his invention and to be notified 
should any other inventor apply for a patent on the 
same thing. He could then immediately file his own 
patent application when an interference would be de- 
clared between them. 

Patent Office Fees. — The following schedule of 



218 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

fees for patents and prices for the various publications 
of the patent office are taken from the Rules of Prac- 
tice. These fees are required to be paid in advance. 
All orders and moneys for the following fees should be 
sent to the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 
C. ; except for The Official Gazette which should be 
sent to the Superintendent of Documents, Government 
Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 

RULES OF PRACTICE IN THE U. S. PATENT OFFICE 
Free on Request. 

On filing each original application for a patent, except 

in design cases $15.00 

On issuing each original patent, except in design cases 20.00 

In design cases: 

For 3 years and 6 months 10.00 

For 7 years 15.00 

For 14 years 30.00 

On every application for the reissue of a patent 30.00 

On filing each disclaimer 10.00 

On an appeal for the first time from the primary 

examiner to the examiners in chief 10.00 

On every appeal from the examiners in chief to the 
Commissioner 20.00 

For certified copies of patents if in print: 

For specification and drawing, per copy .05 

For the certificate 25 

For the grant 50 

For certifying to a duplicate of a model 50 

For manuscript copies of records, for every 100 words 

or fraction thereof 10 

If certified, for the certificate additional .25 

For 20-coupon orders, each coupon good for one copy 



PROFITABLE INFORMATION 219 

of a printed specification and drawing, and receiv- 
able in payment for photographic prints $1.00 

For 100 coupons in stub book 5.00 

For uncertified copies of the specifications and accom- 
panying drawings of patents, if in print, each .05 

For the drawings, if in print 05 

For copies of drawings not in print, the reasonable 

cost of making them. 
For photo prints of drawings, for each sheet of 
drawings : 

Size 10 by 15 inches, per copy 25 

Size 8 by 12^2 inches, per copy 15 

For recording every assignment, agreement, power of 

attorney, or other paper, of 300 words or under. ... 1.00 

Of over 300 and under 1,000 words 2.00 

For each additional 1,000 words or fraction thereof 1.00 
For abstracts of title to patents or inventions : 

For the search, one hour or less, and certificate. . 1.00 

Each additional hour or fraction thereof 50 

For each brief from the digest of assignments, of 

200 words or less 20 

Each additional 100 words or fraction thereof 10 

For searching titles or records, one hour or less. ... .50 

Each additional hour or fraction thereof 50 

For assistance to attorneys in the examination of 
publications in the Scientific Library, one hour or 

less 1.00 

Each additional hour or fraction thereof 1.00 

For copies of matter in any foreign language, for 

every 100 words or a fraction thereof .10 

For translation, for every 100 words or fraction 

thereof 50 

The Official Gazette: 

Annual subscriptions 5.00 

For postage upon foreign subscriptions, ex- 



220 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

cept those from Canada and Mexico, $5 or 
more as required. Moneys received from 
foreign subscribers in excess of the sub- 
scription price of $5 will be deposited to 
the credit of the subscriber and applied to 
postage upon the subscription as incurred. 

Trade Marks. — A trade -mark is any kind of a 
mark, sign, name or picture, or a combination of 
these, by which a manufacturer, or a dealer can mark 
the goods he makes or sells so that a consumer can al- 
ways know that the brand he is buying is genuine. 

A registered trade mark gives the owner the sole 
right to use it and any one else who uses or imitates it 
can be restrained from its further use by injunction 
and sued for damages. After you have decided on 
the trade mark you want to use to show that the prod- 

TRADE 




MARK 
REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. 

FlG. 127. A REGISTERED TRADE MARK 



\ 



uct is of your manufacture you should file an applica- 
tion to register the trade mark just as you would for a 
patent. 

There are some kinds of words which you cannot 
have registered as a trade mark and you may have 
other words in mind which have already been regis- 
tered in the patent office ; nor can you register a trade 
mark unless you have sold your goods outside of your 
own State. Patent attorneys do not as a rule charge 



PROFITABLE INFORMATION 221 

for a search of the trade mark records where an ap- 
plication for registration is filed through them. 

The patent office fee for registering a trade mark is 
$10; a patent attorney generally charges $15 for pre- 
paring the specification and $5 additional for making 
the drawing which makes a total cost of $30 for a 
trade mark. A registered trade mark remains in 
force for 20 years and it may be renewed for another 
20 years. 

Copyrights. — A copyright is the sole right granted 
by law to authors and artists to publish and dispose of 
their works for a term of 28 years when it may be re- 
newed for 14 years more making 42 years in all. 

A copyright may be had on written articles, books, 
lectures or other oral addresses, on dramatic and musi- 
cal compositions, photographs, paintings, drawings, 
sculpture, plastic work, moving picture photo-plays, 
moving pictures other than photo-plays, maps, prints 
and pictorial illustrations. 

A copyright, cannot be had on trade marks, the names 
of companies, newspapers, manufactured articles or on 
prints or labels which are to be used for any kind of 
manufactured articles. Trade marks and patents are 
granted for the above classes of work. 

The general procedure for obtaining a copyright on 
the first named subjects is the same but the application 
forms issued by the Copyright Office differ a little 
from each other in wording and you should have the 
right one. 

When you are ready to file an application for a copy- 



222 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

right in the United States send to the Register of Copy- 
rights, Copyright Office, Washington, D. C, for a copy 
of Steps Necessary to Secure Copyright Registration 
and also a copy of Explanatory Circular No. 12, en- 
titled Application Forms, for which no charge is made. 



Fill onl eaoh numbered spice 

APPLICATION FOR COPYRIGHT— BOOK MANUFACTURED IK THE UKITED STATES 

BJSGIST-B OP COPYBIQHTS. W»__l_t__. D. C Date (1) 



Of the BOOS named herein TWO complete copies of the best edition first published on the 



Hams and address of 

copyright claimant: (2) ^. 



(St>Mt> icitrl (Suu) 
Name of author, but if a 
translation, then Translator (3) _ w _ s __ ai5B - 

Country of which the author or translator Is a citizen or subject («V, (Must be stated) 

An alien author domiciled in the United 

States must name the place of domicile (6) 



Title of book (6). 



Lew* -D ssee— -Itkta these «o«Me line- Maak 




Al 


1 a. net I 










(M'S 




II 





Exact date of first 

work was placed on salejsold, or publicly distributed j 



publication ( 7 ) jn_»»— here the day, month, and year when the) 

ublicly r*'~*- 



"(Pleacs torn this over] 



Fig. 128A. application for copyright of a book 

A reading of these leaflets will tell you exactly how to 
obtain a copyright and also the application form to use. 
When you have found from these the application 
form you need send again to the Register of Copyrights 
for one or more of the application forms, fill it in and 



PROFITABLE INFORMATION 223 

send it and $1 by money order or bank-draft made 
payable to the Register of Copyrights, together with 
a 10 cent revenue stamp — for these are war times — 
and you will receive in turn a certificate of copyright. 



AFFIDAVIT (WHICH MUST BE MADE BT AH 

TEB. PUBLICATION) OF AMERICAN 

rut to the required eucemrots to atroni wit b ib« iwu 



laprwIoB ml 



County of- 



(1 ) That I am, the person claiming copyright In the book named herein. 
(3) That I am the duly authorized agent or representative residing in tho United States 
of the claimant of copyright in the book named herein. 
(3) That I am the printer of the book named herein, 
further depose and say that, as required by the Act of March 4, 1009, the book 



of which two copies have been deposited, has been printed by_ 



1CIU) (SOU) 



»(p2t e e. made in the U. 8. from type} ••* ""*» *• Bmlt » ot tte «"« Stat ~ * 



-flaaaof 

that the printing of the text of 
; the said book was completed on_ 



(OltT) (SUM) 

that the said book was . 

that the binding of the said book has been performed within the limits of the United States 

by_ 

{Stmt of MUpniruamt, 



Subscribed and {-%£?_?} before me this day of_ 



NOTICE. 

If the date of publication It stated In the affidavit, 

then the execution of this affidavit MUST BE SUB- ~ (Slav* tar* of Sotsrv Psba*> 

SEQUENT to the publication of the book. 

The notary la requested to see that this blank Is ^_________ 

properly filled and that there are no variance* ot 

aenoua defects. PLEASE PLACE SEAL AT TOP. iO«., nut [Please turn this over] 



Fig. 128b. affidavit on back of application 

By copyrighting the thing yourself you will save just 
$9 for this is the amount a patent attorney will charge 
you for riling it, and if this isn't driving screws with a 
hammer I'd like to know what it is. 

The following is an application form for copyright- 
ing a book : — 



224 



INVENTING FOR BOYS 



Government Fees for Patents and Least Charges 
of Patent Attorneys. — The United States patent of- 
fice fees for patents of whatever nature and however 
simple or complicated, except for design patents, are 
always the same, namely $15 for filing the application 
and $20 which is payable when the patent is granted 
making a total cost of $35. The patent attorneys' fees 
may vary greatly but the following table shows about 
what their least charges are : 

UNITED STATES PATENTS 





Attor- 




Patent 


Total 


ney's 


Draw- 


Office 


Cost of 


Fees 


ings 


Fees 


Patent 


A simple mechanical patent $30 


}$5 " 


" 




A " electrical $30 






A chemical 

A " electro-chemical " 






~ $35 


-$70 


A " composition " 


' $35 








A process 




- 


- 




DESIGN PATENTS, 


ETC. 






Design Patent 








3^2 year term 1 


1 






7 [ $15 


\ $5 


$15 


$35 


14 " " J 


J 


$30 


$50 


Trade Mark Registration $15 


$5 


$10 


$30 


Print and Label Registration $14 




$6 


$20 


Copyright 


$9 




$i 


$10 



Assignment of Patents and 
Trade Marks 



$5 



Foreign Patents. — After you have applied for a 
patent on your invention in the United States you 
should take out patents in foreign countries. Some- 
times indeed you will find a more ready sale abroad for 
your invention, or the product of your invention, than 



PROFITABLE INFORMATION 225 

you will right here at home. In many of these coun- 
tries a yearly tax is also charged by the government. 
The costs given below for each country include both 
the government and the attorney's fees. 

Dominion of Canada. — In Canada a preliminary 
protection may be secured for one year. A patent is 
issued for 6 years and at the expiration of that time 
the patent may be extended for 6 years more and then 
for another 6 years, making 18 years in all. 

Preliminary protection $ 5 

Patent for 6-year term ^45 

Great Britain. — A British patent includes England, 
Ireland, Scotland and Wales. A provisional patent 
which secures priority of invention may be obtained 
for a term of 6 months. The complete British pat- 
ent is then issued for 14 years. 

Provisional specification $30 

Patent for 14 years 70 

France and Colonies. — The term of a French pat- 
ent is 15 years. If the invention it covers is not 
worked within 2 years after it is issued it becomes 
public property. 

Patent for 15 years $60 

Germany and Colonies. — A German patent includes 
Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and other kingdoms of the 
Empire. There are two classes of patents issued and 
these are 1, the technical patent, which is issued for 15 
years, and 2, the model patent, which is issued for 6 



226 INVENTING FOR BOYS 

years, the first corresponding to the U. S. ordinary 
patent and the second to the U. S. design patent. 

Technical patent, for 15 years $60 

Model patent, for 6 years 35 

Austria and Hungary. — 
Patent in either country for 15 years. Fee is. $70 

Belgium. — Patent for 20 years. Fee is $40. 

Spain. — Patent for 20 years. Fee is $65. 

Italy. — Patent for 15 years. Fee is $65. 

Russia. — Patent for 15 years. Fee is $90. 

Denmark. — Patent for 1 5 years. Fee is $70. 

Norway and Sweden. — Patent for 1 5 years in each 
country. Fee is $70. 

Switzerland. — Patent for 1 5 years. Fee is $60. 

Portugal and Turkey. — Patent for 15 years. Fee 
is $100. 

Holland. — Has no patent laws. 

India. — Patent for 14 years. Fee is $80. 

Australian Commonwealth. — Includes Victoria, 
New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tas- 
mania and West Australia. One patent covers them 
all. 

Patent for 14 years $100 

Japan and China. — Fee is $100. 

Africa. — Egypt, Natal and Transvaal, each $100. 
Cape Colony, $125. Congo Free State, $130. 

Central America. — Costa Rica, $150. Guatemala, 
Honduras and Nicaragua, each $225. 



PROFITABLE INFORMATION 227 

West Indies. — Cuba, $90. Barbados, $100. Ja- 
maica, $125. Trinidad, $140. Bahama Islands, 
$150. 

South America. — United States of Colombia, $120. 
Brazil, $125. Peru and Panama, $200. Venezuela, 
$220; and Chili, $230. 



APPENDICES 



APPENDIX A 

SOME USEFUL MATHEMATICAL FORMULAS 

7T = 3.14159 (tt is a Greek letter pronounced Pi) 

d = diameter of a circle 

r = radius of a circle 

p = periphery, or circumference of a circle 

The area of a circle = irr 2 

The circumference of a circle — ^d 

The diameter of a circle = — = 

v 3.14 

The radius of a circle = — = -A— 
27T 6.28 

The surface of a sphere = qrrr 2 = ird 2 

The volume of a sphere = — rrr 3 = — 7rd 3 

3 6 



231 



APPENDIX B 

THE METRIC OR DECIMAL SYSTEM 

The metric system is a French system of weights and 
measures much used in the arts and sciences in every 
civilized country and as each unit is multiplied or di- 
vided by 10 to obtain ascending or descending values it 
is much more convenient to use than the older English 
system of arbitrary measures. 

The metric system is based on the meter, which is one- 
ten millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator 
to the North Pole. There are five units, the four latter 
being derived from the meter and these are : 

1. The meter which is the unit of length and is about 
3.280 feet in length. 

2. The are which is the unit of surface and is 100 
square meters in area. 

3. The liter which is the unit of capacity and is 1 cubic 
decimeter, which is equal to 1.0567 United States quarts. 

4. The stere which is the unit of solidity and is equal 
to 1 cubic meter. 

5. The gram is the unit of weight and is the weight of 
1 cubic centimeter of distilled water at its maxim density. 



232 



APPENDIX C 

METRIC MEASURES OF LENGTH AND VALUES IN 
INCHES 



rMillimeter (mm) = 

Divisions-I Centimeter (cm) = 

iDecimeter (dm) = o.i 

Unit Meter (m) = i. 

fDekameter (Dm) = 10. 

■kit uv^c Hektometer (Hm) = ioo. 

Multipl£ M Kilometer (Km) = 1,000. 

[Myriameter (Mm) =10.000. 



0.001 m. = 0.03937 inch 
0.01 m. = 0.3937 inch 
m. = 3-937 inches 
m. = 39.37 inches 
m. = 393.7 inches 
m. = 328. feet and : 
m. = 0.62326 mile 
m. = 6.2326 miles 



inch 



APPENDIX D 

METRIC MEASURES OF WEIGHT AND VALUES IN 
ENGLISH WEIGHT 



( Milligram 
DivisionsJ Centigram 
I Decigram 
Unit Gram 

f Dekagram 
Hektogram 
Kilogram 



Multiples 



(mg) = 


o.ooig= 0.0154 grain avoirdupois 


(cg) = 


O.OI 


g= 0.1543 gram 


(dg) = 


O.I 


S= 1.5432 grain " 


(g) = 


1 


g= 15.432 grains " 


(Dg) = 


10 


S= 0.3527 ounce " 


(Hg) = 


IOO 


g= 3.5274 ounces 


(Kg) = 


IOOO 


g = 2.2046 pounds " 



Myriagram (Mg) = 10.000 g = 22.046 pounds 



233 



APPENDIX E 

TO CHANGE METRIC TO ENGLISH MEASURE AND 
VICE VERSA 



To Change 


To 


Multiply by 


Inches 


Centimeters 


2.54 


Feet 


Meters 


0.3048 


Miles 


Kilometers 


1,6093 


Square Inches 


Square Centimeters 


6.4516 


Square Feet 


Square Meters 


0.0929 


Square Yards 


Square Meters 


0.8361 


Cubic Inches 


Cubic Centimeters 


16.3872 


Cubic yards 


Cubic Meters 


0.7646 


Fluid ounces 


Cubic Centimeters 


29.574 


Quarts 


Liters 


0.9464 


Ounces (avoirdupois) 


Grams 


28.3495 


Grains 


Milligrams 


64.789 


Pounds (avoirdupois) 


Kilograms 


0.4536 


Meters 


Inches 


39-37 


Meters 


Feet 


3.2808 


Kilometers 


Miles 


0.6213 


Square Centimeters 


Square Inches 


O.J55 


Square Meters 


Square Yards 


1. 196 


Cubic Centimeters 


Cubic Inches 


0.0610 


Cubic Meters 


Cubic Yards 


1.308 


Cubic Centimeters 


Fluid Ounces 


0.0344 


Liters 


Quarts 


1.0567 


Grams 


Grains 


15.4324 


Kilograms 


Pounds 


2.204 



234 



APPENDIX F 
SIZES OF TWIST DRILLS FOR TAPS OR SCREWS 

No. of Drill No. of Tap No. of Threads 

or Screw to the Inch 

Use 38 for 4 — 36 

" 32 " 6 — 32 

" 28 " 8 — 32 

" 22 " 10 — 24 

" 13 " 12 — 24 



APPENDIX G 
SIZES OF TAPS AND DIES 

No. of Tap or Die Threads to Inch 

4 36 

6 2,2 

8 32 

10 24 

12 24 



APPENDIX H 

SIZES OF MACHINE SCREWS AND NUTS 

Machine screws and nuts are numbered the same as dies 
and taps. 

235 



APPENDIX I 
REDUCING FRICTION 

When two bodies are rubbed together the motion is op- 
posed by a force called friction. When two surfaces 
slide against each other the friction between them is 
proportional to the force pressing them together. The 
amount of friction depends upon the pressure of the bod- 
ies, the roughness of their surfaces and also slightly on 
their adhesion. The friction is the same regardless of 
the speed with which the surfaces slide over each other. 

The co-efficient of friction is the measure of friction 
and this is found by dividing the force of friction by the 
force pressing the surfaces together. Here are a few 
co-efficients of sliding friction: 

Per cent. 
Oak on Oak with Fibers parallel without lubricant 0.42 

" " " " " " rubbed with soap 0.16 

Cast Iron on Oak '. 0.42 

Cast Iron on Cast Iron, not lubricated 0.15 

" " " " " lubricated 0.10 

Iron on Brass 0.16 

Brass on Brass 0.20 

Iron on Bronze, without lubricant 0.25 

" " " thoroughly lubricated 0.06 

Cast Iron Wheels on Rails (Rolling Friction) 0.004 

Ball Bearings " " ' 0.001 



236 



APPENDIX J 

WEIGHT OF CASTINGS COMPARED WITH WOOD 
PATTERNS 

The following table shows what the weight of a cast- 
ing will be compared with the weight of the wood pat- 
tern from which it was made, less the weight of the 
core point, or piece projecting from the pattern to sup- 
port it. 



A Wood Pat- 
tern Weighing 
One Pound 


Will Make a Casting Weighing 


Pattern of 


Cast Iron 
Pounds 


Brass 
Pounds 


Copper 
Pounds 


Bronze 
Pounds 


Zinc 
Pounds 


Pine 

Beech 

Oak 

Birch 

Mahogany . . . 
Brass 


14 

97 

9 

10.6 
11.7 

0.84 


15.8 
IO.9 
10. 1 
1 1.9 
13-2 

0.95 


l6.7 
II.4 
104 
12.3 
13.7 
O.99 


16.3 

II.3 

IO.3 
12.2 

13.5 

O.98 


13-5 

9.1 

12.9 

10.2* 
1 1.2 
0.8l 



237 



APPENDIX K 



GEARS AND GEARINGS 

A spur-gear is a gear with teeth cut on its periphery, 
that is an ordinary cog-wheel. Miter gears are two bevel 
gears of the same diameter which run together. A large 
miter gear will not mesh with a small miter gear nor with 

FACE 



1 


— ^- 


-TEETH 


1 


9, 


HUB 


uj - 


£ 


S*°j: 


ECTION 




'/////A 


LU 


< 




lU h- 




LENGTH 


JUJ 


o 


OF HUB 




U 


<^ 


'//A 


o 


^ X 
CO U 

II 


to 




1 







Fig. 129. cross section of gear 

another bevel gear in the proper manner. Miter and 
bevel gears cannot be interchanged with other sets like 
spur gears. 

All miter gears that you buy ready cut are made so 

238 



APPENDICES 239 

that their shafts run at right angles to each other as 
shown in Fig. 129, but you can have them cut to order 
to run at any angle you want. 

To find the pitch, pitch diameter, circular pitch, etc., of 
both spur and bevel gears use these rules: 

?r = 3.14159 
p = pitch 

n = number of teeth 
pd = pitch diameter 
od = outside diameter 
cp = circular pitch 

To Find the Pitch: 
n 

To Find the Number of Teeth: 

n = pXpd 
To Find the Pitch Diameter: 

To Find the Outside Diameter of Spur Wheels: 

p 

To Find the Circular Pitch: 

IT 

To Find the Distance Between the Centers of Two Spur Gears: 
(ni + n2) 



P 
Where n 1 -f n 2 = the sum of the teeth of both gears. 



APPENDIX U 



SOME USEFUL ALLOYS 



Name of Alloy 


Parts of 


Parts of 


Parts of 


Parts of 


Parts of 




Copper 


Tin 


Zinc 


Lead 


Other Metals 


Gun Metal . . 


91 


9 








Bell Metal .. 


75 


25 








Phosphor 












Bronze .... 


92^ 


7 






y 2 phosphorus 


Aluminum 












Bronze .... 


90 








10 aluminum 


Common 












Brass 


6ey 3 




33 J A 






Brazing Metal 












(soft) 


50 


i2y 2 


37V2 






German 












Silver 


60 


1 


20 




20 nickel 


Common 












Solder 




50 




• 50 




Fine Solder. . 




66y 3 




33 J A 




Babbitt Metal 


3 


89 






8 antimony 


Pewter 




80 




20 




Type Metal . 








80 


20 antimony 


Aluminum 




! 








Solder .... 


95 








5 bismuth 



Magnetic Alloy. 



An alloy that has strong magnetic properties 
is made of 25 parts of manganese, 14 parts of 
aluminum and 61 parts of copper, yet none of 
these metals are even slightly magnetic. 



340 



APPENDIX M 

SOME HARD SOLDERS 

Hard solders melt only at red heat and are used for 
soldering gold, silver, brass and other metals where a 
good strong joint is needed. 



Metal to be 
Soldered 


Parts of 
Gold 


Parts of 
Brass 


Parts of 
Silver 


Parts of 
Zinc 


Parts of 
Other Metals 


Gold 

Silver 

Brass 


66.67 


4375 
87.5 


22.22 
50 


6.25 
12.5 


1 1.1 1 copper 



APPENDIX N 
HIGH SPEED STEEL 

A special steel alloy which is largely used for turning 
tools in engine lathes and which will cut ordinary steel 
when the latter is revolved at a high surface velocity is 
called high speed steel. A tool made of high speed steel 
will not lose its temper and will keep its cutting edge 
hour after hour if they are kept cool by a stream of 
water running on them. A good high speed steel for 
machine tools is known by the trade name of blue-chip 
and is manufactured by the Firth-Sterling Steel Com- 
pany of Pittsburg, Pa. 

241 



APPENDIX O 
SOME ELECTRICAL SYMBOLS, TERMS AND FORMULAS 

Symbols Terms 

E or EMF = Electromotive Force 

I = Intensity of Current 

R = Resistance 

C = Capacity 

Q = Quantity of Current 

3 = Magneto-Motive Force 

It = Reluctance (magnetic resistance) 

f 1 = Magnetic Permeability 

W = Electric Energy 

P = Electric Power 

SOME DEFINITIONS 

E or EMF, or electromotive force, is the force that moves 
a current through a conductor. 

I, or intensity of current, or current as it is called for 
short, is the flow of electricity through a conductor. 

R, or resistance is that property of a conductor which op- 
poses the flow of the current. 

SOME ELECTRICAL UNITS 
Practical Units. . Electrical Quantity 

Volt is the practical unit of EMF 
Ampere is the practical unit of I 
Ohm is the practical unit of R 
Watt is the practical unit of P 
242 



APPENDICES 243 

OHM'S LAW 
Since the intensity of an electric current varies directly 
as the electromotive force and inversely as the resistance, 
if you know the value of any two of the above units you 
can easily find the third. 

Volts T E 
Amperes = — — , or I =_ 
Ohms R 

-r., • -^ Current I 

Electromotive Force = : , or F = -— 

Resistance R 

. Electromotive Force E 

Resistance = , or R = — 

Current I 

To Find Power of an Electric Current in Terms 
of Horse Power 

One Watt = 1 volt X 1 ampere 
746 Watts = 1 horse power. 

To find the power of an electric current in terms of 
horse-power, find the number of watts by multiplying the 
volts by the amperes and divide the watts by 746 and 
the result will give you the horse-power of the current. 



APPENDIX P 
NUMBER, DIAMETER, CAPACITY, WEIGHT, 



d 


.5 




CO 


OHMS 


c/i 






=3 


Q M 


Sectional 
Area in 
Circular 
Mils. 

1 


V 

U 

!* 


O 
O 
O 

<U Cij 
Pw 


1 

u 

V 
PL. 


oooo 


.460 


211600. 


312. 


.O49O 


.2590 


ooo 


.40964 


167805. 


262. 


,06l8 


.3266 


oo 


.3648 


133079. 


220. 


.O780 


.4"8 





.32486 


105534- 


185. 


.0983 


.5190 


I 


.2893 


83694. 


156. 


.1240 


.6549 


2 


.25763 


66373. 


131. 


.1564 


.8258 


3 


.22942 


52634. 


no. 


.1972 


I. O4I4 


4 


.20431 


41473- 


92.3 


.2486 


I- 313 


5 


.18194 


33102. 


77-t 


.3136 


1.655 


6 


.16202 


26251. 


65.; 


•3954 


2.088 


7 


.14428 


20817. 


54-? 


.4987 


2.633 


8 


.12849 


16510. 


46.] 


.6529 


3-3 


9 


."443 


13094. 


38.7 


.7892 


4.1 


10 


.10189 


10382. 


32.5 


.8441 


4-4 


ii 


.09074 


8234. 


27-3 


I.254 


6.4 


12 


.08080 


6530. 


23. 


1.580 


8.3 


13 


.07196 


5178. 


19-3 


1-995 


10.4 


14 


.06408 


4107. 


16.2 


2.504 


13.2 


15 


.05706 


3257. 


13.^ 


3.172 


16.7 


16 


.05082 


2583. 


ii-E 


4.00I 


23. 


17 


.04525 


2048. 


9-^ 


5-04 


26. 


18 


.04030 


1624. 


8.1 


6.36 


33- 


19 


•03589 


1288. 




8.25 


43- 


20 


.03196 


1021. 




10.12 


53- 


21 


.02846 


810. 




12.76 


68. 


22 


.02534 


642. 




16.25 


85. 


23 


.02257 


509. 




20.30 


108. 


24 


.0201 


404. 




25.60 


135. 


25 


.0179 


320. 




32.2 


170. 


26 


.01594 


254. 




40.7 


214. 


27 


.01419 


201. 




51.3 


270. 


28 


.01264 


159.8 




64.8 


343- 


29 


.01125 


126.7 




8l.6 


432. 


30 


.01002 


100.5 




103. 


538. 


31 


.00892 


79-7 




130. 


685. 


32 


.00795 


63. 




164. 


865. 


33 


.00708 


50.1 




• 206. 


1033. 


34 


.00630 


39-74 




260. 


1389. 


35 


.00561 


31.5 




328. 


1820. 


36 


.005 


25. 




414. 


2200. 


37 


.00445 


19.8 




523. 


2765. 


38 


.00396 


15.72 




660. 


3486. 


39 


.00353 


12.47 




832. 


4395- 


40 


.00314 


9.88 




IO49. 


5542. 



244 



AND RESISTANCE OF PURE COPPER WIRE 


OHMS 


FEET 


POUNDS 


T) 


t) 








§ 


3 


a 


O 
.u 


s 


o 


O 


.a 


°. u 


J3 


Ph 


P4 


O 


u M 


O 


u 


u 


u 


M 


<u 


<D 


S 


<u 


V 


Ph 


Ph 


Ph 


Ph 


Ph 


.00007 


1. 5612 


20497.7 


640.59 


12987. 


.00012 


1.9687 


16255.27 


507-85 


8333. 


.00019 


2.4824 


12891.37 


402.83 


5263. 


.00031 


3.1303 


10223.08 


319-45 


3225. 


.00049 


3-9471 


8107.49 


253-34 


2041. 


.00078 


4.9772 


6429.58 


200.91 


1228. 


.00125 


6.2765 


5098.61 


^59-32 


800. 


.00198 


7.9141 


4043.6 


126.35 


505. 


.00314 


9.9798 


3206.61 


100.20 


318. 


.00499 


12.5847 


2542.89 


79.462 


200. 


.00792 


15.8696 


2015.51 


63.013 


126. 


.0125 


20.0097 


1599-3 


49.976 


80. 


.0197 


25.229 


1268.44 


39.636 


50. 


.0270 


31.8212 


1055.66 


31-426 


37> 


.0501 


40.1202 


797.649 


24.924 


20. 


.079 


50.5906 


632.555 


19.766 


12.65 


.127 


63.7948 


501.63 


15.674 


7.87 


.200 


80.4415 


397.822 


12.435 


5-00 


.320 


101.4365 


315-482 


9-859 


3.12 


.512 


127.12 


250.184 


7.819 


1.95 


.811 


161.29 


198.409 


6.199 


1.23 


1.29 


203.374 


157-35 


4.916 


•775 


2. 1 1 


256.468 


124.777 


3.899 


•473 


3.27 


323.399 


98.9533 


3-094 


• 305 


S-20 


407-815 


78.473 


2.452 


.192 


8.35 


5I4.I93 


62.236 


1-945 


.119 


13-3 


648.452 


49-3504 


1.542 


.075 


20.9 


817.688 


39.1365 


1.223 


.047 


32.2 


1031.038 


31.0381 


.9699 


.030 


52.9 


1300.180 


24.6131 


.7692 


.0187 


84.2 


i63"9. 4 9 


19.5191 


.6099 


.0118 


134. 


2067.364 


15.4793 


.4807 


.0074 


213. 


2606.959 


12.2854 


.3835 


.0047 


338. 


3287.084 


9-7355 


.3002 


.0029 


539- 


4414.49 


7.7214 


.2413 


.0018 


856. 


5226.915 


6.1224 


• 1913 


.0011 


I357- 


6590.41 


4-8557 


.1517 


.00076 


2166. 


8312.8 


3.8496 


.1204 


.00046 


352i. 


10481.77 


3-0530 


.0956 


.00028 


5469- 


13214.16 


2.4217 


•0757 


.00018 


8742. 


16659.97 


| 1.9208 


.0600 


1 .00011 


13722. 


21013.25 


1.5229 


•0475 


.00007 


21896. 


26496.237 


1.2077 


•0375 


.00004 


34823. 


33420.63 


0.9798 


.0299 


.00002 



245 



APPENDIX Q 

NUMBER OF TURNS OF WIRE THAT CAN BE WOUND 
IN A GIVEN SPACE 



o bo 


COTTON 


SILK 


tflO 
c8 « 


SINGLE 


DOUBLE 


SINGLE 


DOUBLE 




Per 


Per 


Per 


Per 


Per 


Per 


Per 


Per 


<L) 

d 6 


Square 


Square 


Square 


Square 


Square 


Square 


Square 


Square 


Inch. 


Qu. Inch 


Inch. 


Qu. Inch 


Inch. 


Qu.Inch 


Inch. 


Qu. Inch 


20 


676 


42 


576 


36 


841 


52 


676 


42 


21 


842 


53 


625 


39 


961 


60 


842 


53 


22 


1.024 


64 


729 


45 


1.225 


76 


1.024 


64 


23 


1.024 


81 


900 


56 


1. 521 


95 


1.296 


81 


24 


1.600 


100 


1.089 


68 


1.936 


121 


1.600 


100 


25 


1.849 


115 


1.296 


81 


2.304 


144 


1.849 


US 


26 


2.209 


138 


1.440 


90 


2.916 


182 


2.209 


138 


27 


2.500 


156 


1.600 


100 


3-249 


206 


2.500 


156 


28 


3-025 


189 


1.849 


115 


4.096 


254 


3.025 


189 


29 


3.481 


218 


2.025 


126 


4.761 


297 


3.48i 


218 


30 


4-356 


272 


2.500 


156 


6.400 


400 


4.356 


272 


3i 


5.001 


3i5 


2.704 


169 


7.769 


485 


5-041 


315 


32 


5-929 


370 


3-025 


189 


9.025 


564 


5-929 


370 


33 


7.089 


443 


3.48i 


218 


11.025 


689 


7.089 


443 


34 


7.769 


485 


3.600 


225 


12.321 


770 


7.769 


485 


35 


8.100 


506 


3.844 


240 


13.689 


855 


8.100 


506 


36 


10.000 


625 


4.356 


272 


17.689 


1. 105 


10.000 


625 


37 


11.025 


689 


4.761 


297 


20.164 


1.240 


11.025 


689 


38 


12.321 


770 


5.041 


3i5 


23.716 


1.482 


12.321 


77o 


39 


13.689 


855 


S-476 


342 


27.556 


1.722 


13-689 


855 


40 


15.625 


976 


5.929 


370 


32.761 


2.047 


15.625 


976 



(W. J. Clarke.) 



246 



APPENDIX R 

PRICES OF SINGLE AND DOUBLE SILK AND COTTON 
COVERED MAGNET WIRE 

PRICE PER POUND 



Size by 


Single 


Double 




Single 


Double 


B. &S. 


Covered. 


Covered. 


£™& 


Covered. 


Covered. 


Gage 










<u °3 « 








Cotton 


Silk 


Cotton 


Silk 


.2 -o 


Cotton 


Silk 


Cotton 


Silk 


16 





$0.80 




$1.02 


29 


.98 


1.53 


1.30 


2.22 


17 




.82 




1.04 


30 


I.08 


1.70 


I.42 


2.56 


18 




.84 




1.06 


31 


I.I9 


1.92 


1-54 


3.08 


19 




.86 




1.08 


32 


1.27 


2.16 


I.64 


340 


20 


$0.58 


.88 


$0.64 


1. 12 


33 


1.44 


2.46 


1.88 


4.00 


21 


.6b 


.00 


.70 


I.I5 


34 


1.73 


2.90 


2.20 


4.60 


22 


.62 


.92 


74 


1.22 


35 


1.86 


3.38 


2.67 


5.28 


23 


.65 


.96 


.78 


I.28 


36 


2.12 


3.93 


300 


5.98 


24 


.68 


1.02 


.84 


1.38 


37 


2.70 


4.66 


4-30 


7-37 


25 


-73 


I.IO 


.92 


1.48 


38 


3.60 


5.58 


5-70 


8.43 


26 


.80 


1.20 


I. OO 


1.6s 


39 


4.70 


6.76 


7.20 


975 


27 


.86 


1.30 


I.IO 


1.85 


40 


6.00 


8.14 


9.00 


11.53 


28 


.92 


1.40 


I.20 


2.00 













There is a discount of about 50 per cent, on the above prices 
though this is subject to change. 



247 



APPENDIX S 

A LIST OF SOME CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND THEIR 
SYMBOLS 



Element Symbol 

Aluminum Al 

Antimony Sb 

Argon A 

Arsenic As 

Barium Bi 

Boron B 

Bromine Br 

Cadmium Cd 

Calcium Ca 

Carbon C 

Chlorine CI 

Chromium Cr 

Cobalt Co 



Element Symbol 

Copper Cu 

Florine F 

Gold Au 

Helium He 

Hydrogen H 

Iodine I 

Iron Fe 

Lead Pb 

Lithium Li 

Magnesium . . . .Mg 

Manganese Mn 

Mercury Hg 

Nickel Ni 



Element Symbol 

Nitrogen N 

Oxygen O 

Phosphorus P 

Potassium K 

Platinum Pt 

Silicon Si 

Silver Ag 

Sodium Na 

Strontium Sr 

Sulphur S 

Tin • Sn 

Zinc Zn 



248 



APPENDIX T 
THE COMMON NAMES OF SOME CHEMICALS 

Common Name Chemical Name 

Alum Sulphate of ammonium, or 

potassium, etc. 

Aqua f ortis Nitric acid 

Aqua regia Concentrated nitric and hydro- 
chloric acid mixed. 

Baking soda Sodium carbonate 

Calomel Mercurious chloride 

Carbolic acid Phenol 

Caustic potash Potassium hydroxide 

Caustic soda Sodium hydroxide 

Chalk Calcium carbonate 

Copperas Ferrous sulphate 

Corrosive sublimate Mercuric chloride 

Cream of tartar Potassium bitartrate 

Epsom salts Magnesium sulphate 

Fire damp Methane 

Fool's gold Iron pyrites 

Glauber's salt Sodium sulphate 

Grape sugar Glucose; a carbohydrate 

Hartshorn Aqueous solution of ammonia 

Jeweler's putty Tin oxide 

Laughing gas Nitrous oxide 

Lime Calcium oxide 

Lunar caustic Silver nitrate 

Mosaic gold Tin bisulphide 

Muriatic acid Hydrochloric acid 

Monsel's salts Basic ferric sulphate 

Plaster of Paris Calcium sulphate 

Realgar Red arsenic sulphide 

Red lead Lead oxide 

Rochelle salt Sodium potassium tartrate 

249 



250 APPENDICES 

Common Name Chemical Name 

Royal water See Aqua regia 

Sal ammoniac Ammonium chloride 

Salt (common) Sodium chloride 

Sal soda Sodium carbonate 

Salt of tartar Potassium carbonate 

Saltpeter Potassium nitrate 

Salts of lemon Oxalic acid 

Slacked lime Calcium hydrate 

Soda Sodium carbonate 

Spirits of salt , Hydrochloric acid 

Sugar of lead Lead acetate 

Sugar of milk Lactose 

Tartar emetic Potassium antimonious tartrate 

Verdigris Copper acetate 

Vermilion Mercuric sulphide 

Vinegar Dilute acetic acid 

Vitriol, blue Copper sulphate 

Vitriol, green Ferrous sulphate 

Vitriol, oil of Sulphuric acid 

Vitriol, white Zinc sulphate 

Volatile alkali Ammonia 

Washing soda Sodium carbonate 

White lead Lead carbonate 

Zinc white Zinc sulfid 



APPENDIX U 

THE FOUR CHIEF THERMOMETRIC SCALES 

There are four different thermometer scales used 
for measuring temperature and these are ( i ) the Fahren- 



-30 



-310 



-290 



-280 



-260 



-240 



-230 



100 
90 
80 
70 
60 

\-S0 
40 
30 

-2o 

-to 

- O 

10 

20 

30 

h40 

50 



-50 



40 



30 



20 



Fig. 130. The four chief thermometric scales : reaumur, 
absolute, fahrenheit and centigrade 

heit scale which is widely used for all ordinary purposes ; 
(2) the Centigrade which is the standard scale used for 

251 



252 APPENDICES 

scientific work since it is based on the decimal system ; (3) 
the Reaumur scale which is largely used in Germany, and 
(4) the absolute scale which is reckoned from absolute 
zero, that is the point at which there is absolutely no heat. 
It is about 461 degrees Fahr., 274 degrees centigrade, and 
219 degrees Reaumur below the zero of these scales. 



SOME WORDS AND TERMS USED IN THIS 
BOOK 

Accelerate. — To hurry or speed up the usual slow state of events. 

Actuate. — (i) To put into action. (2) Means by which anything 
is started to move. (See operate). 

Adhesion. — A force which makes certain bodies stick together. 

Aerial Wire. — An elevated wire used to send out and to re- 
ceive electric waves for wireless telegraphy and wireless 
telephony. 

Affidavit. — A sworn statement made before a notary public 
or other legal authority. 

Agent. — (1) A canvasser. (2) One who acts as a salesman or 
in any capacity for another. 

Amend. — To change or correct, as to amend a claim in a patent. 

Analysis. — See Chemical decomposition. 

Arbor. — An axle, spindle, shaft or mandrel. 

Archives. — A place in which official papers are kept and held 
secret. 

Arlington wireless station. — A high powered wireless station 
at Arlington, Va., across the river from Washington, D. C. 

Assignment. — To transfer to another a right or interest. 

Attest. — To witness or to sign an oath that a thing is true. 

Automatic. — A machine which performs certain operations of 
its own accord. 

Aviation. — The art of flying. 

Axis. — An imaginary line on or around which a body turns. 
(Plural Axes.) 

Basic principle. — The first source or cause of a thing. 

Biologist. — One who knows something about the science of life 
and living things. 

Broker. — One who acts as an agent to negotiate purchases and 
make sales on a commission, as a stock-broker, coffee- 
broker, etc. 

Capital. — Wealth that is used in or can be had for business. 

Capital Stock. — The shares of a company that are sold to fur- 
nish funds with which to transact business. 

Capitalize. — To fix a value on the stock of a company. 

253 



254 APPENDICES 

Case. — An application pending in the patent office. 

Cause. — A suit or action over patent rights which is conducted 
in a court. 

Certified copy.— & paper or a copy of a paper that has been 
sworn to before a notary to prove it to be the original 
or an exact copy of the original. 

Chemical Combination. — (i) The atomic union of chemicals. 
(2) A compound of chemical elements. 

Chemical Decomposition. — The separation of a compound with 
its original elements. 

Circularise. — To send out circulars to a list of names. 

Cite. — To quote a reference to an authority. 

Citation. — An article or patent quoted by a patent examiner as 
a basis for the rejection of a patent application or of a claim. 

Claim. — The last part of a patent specification in which the in- 
ventor clearly and specifically sets forth what his invention 
consists of and what he demands to have protected by a 
patent. 

Claim, Broad. — (1) A broad claim is one in which the inventor 
claims everything in sight and usually more than he is en- 
titled to. (2) It is easy to write a broad claim but hard to 
get it allowed. 

Claim, Narrow. — (1) A narrow, or limited claim is one in which 
a patent attorney puts in so many elements or parts that 
the combination is bound to be patentable. (2) Such a 
claim has no value because it is easy for another to change 
an element or a part when the combination no longer in- 
fringes. (3) The hardest thing that an inventor has to 
contend with is to get a claim written so that it will stand 
in court. 

Coincide. — Exactly corresponding to or meeting. 

Conceive. — To get an idea. 

Commission Merchant. — A man who stands between the manu- 
facturer and the wholesaler and who gets a percentage on 
the amount of goods that change hands. 

Commissioner of Patents. — The head, front and center of the 
patent office. 

Concentric Circles. — Circles drawn within circles and all of 
them having the same center. 

Corporation. — (1) A company. (2) An imaginary person in- 
vented by law and formed of one or more real persons 
banded together to transact business. 



APPENDICES 255 

Correspondent. — ■ (1) An associate. (2) A lawyer that carries 

on his business with another lawyer at a distance. 
Consumer. — > The last buyer and the user of an article or a device. 
Cross-section. — See Drawing, Cross-section. 
Counsel. — A patent attorney who is qualified to prosecute patent 
cases in court. 

Data. — Information that is known or may be had. 

Deductive Proof. — That form of thought by which an idea used 
as a starting point is brought to a conclusion by known prin- 
ciples and facts. (See Inductive Discovery.) Inductive dis- 
covery is the raw idea and does not lead up to certainty, 
whereas deductive proof does. 

Degree. — (1) One three hundred and sixtieth part of a circle. 
(2) The unit of angular measurement. 

Detailed Drawing. — See Drawing, Detailed. 

Device. — (1) An apparatus or an instrument, or a machine or 
any part of any of them. (2) Any scheme for producing a 
desired result. 

Die. — A steel tool having a sharp edge for cutting out special 
designs in paper, metals, etc. 

Directors. — Members of a company chosen to direct its business. 

Disclose. — (1) To make known. (2) To give up the secret of 
your invention. 

'Display ad. — An advertisement in which larger type is used 
than for the reading matter of the paper. 

Dividends. — Money resulting from profits and which are dis- 
tributed among the shareholders. 

Drawing, Free Hand. — Pictures drawn without measurements or 
the aid of instruments. 

Drawing, Working. — A drawing of a part, device or machine 
made to scale so that a mechanic can work from it. 

Drawing, Cross Section. — A drawing of an object as though it 
had been cut in two in order to show its inside construction. 

Drawing, Detail. — A drawing of any part of a device or a ma- 
chine made large enough to show everything no matter how 
small. 

Drawing, Perspective. — A drawing of a solid object on a flat sur- 
face so that it seems to stand out in space like the object itself. 

Drawing, Isometric perspective. — See Isometric Perspective. 

Du Ponts. — A firm at Wilmington, Delaware, who manufactures 
gun-powder and other explosives. 

Efficient. — That which works the best with the greatest 
economy. 



256 APPENDICES 

Element. — (i) A chemical element is a form of matter which 
cannot be decomposed. (2) A mechanical element is a single 
part of a device or a machine. 

Electrolytic. — The decomposition of a chemical compound by an 
electric current. 

Electroplating. — Depositing one metal on another metal by an 
electric current. 

Electrotype. — A duplicate of type or cuts for printing, the body 
of which is of type-metal and the face of copper which has 
been deposited by an electric current. 

Electrolytic. — Decomposition of a substance, or a solution by 
means of an electric current. 

Electrolysis. — About the same as electrolytic. 

Elementary. — Simple ; primary. 

Electro-Chemistry. — Chemistry in which electricity is used.* 

Engine lathe. — A large and accurate screw cutting lathe fitted 
with all known attachments. 

Entering Edge. — The front edge of the main plane of an aero- 
plane. 

Ether. — A substance filling all space and in, by and through 
which light, electricity and magnetism acts and travels. 

Evidence of conception. — A signed and sealed statement made 
at the time or shortly after you get the big idea which will 
serve as proof of the earliest time you thought of it. 

Excerpt. — A part, or an extract of an article. 

Expert.-^ One who is trained or is skilful, due to learning and 
practice. 

Experiment. — (1) To find out an effect, or the cause of it by 
trials and tests. (2) To work out a process for the purpose 
of developing an idea. (3) To show the effect of some 
previous discovery or invention. 

Files. — Patents that are arranged systematically for easy refer- 
ence. 

Fixture. — See Jig. 

Free-hand Drawing. — See Drawing, Free-hand. 

Full paid. — Stock that has been paid for either in cash or by 
a patented invention. 

High Frequency Oscillations. — (1) Electric oscillations. (2) 
Electric currents which alternate in direction 100,000 or more 
a second. 

Idea, Raw. — The first idea that comes into the mind as a basis for 
an invention. 

Improvement. — (1) Adding a new element or part to a com- 



APPENDICES 257 

position, device or a machine. (2) An improvement con- 
stitutes an invention and can be patented. 

Impulse.— * A turbine wheel turned by steam forced against its 
blades. 

Initiative. — The first step or action. 

Indicate. — To point out. To show how a thing is done. 

Inductive Discovery. — (1) The raw, or original idea that results 
from the mind process. It precedes deductive proof. 

Inherent stability. — A natural tendency of a body to remain 
balanced, or when upset to right itself. 

Isometric. — Of equal measure or scale. 

Isometric Perspective. — Three sets of lines of equal measure, 
that is 120 degrees apart which represent the three dimen- 
sions of space. 

Isbmetric Cross-section paper. — Paper ruled with lines of equal 
measure for making isometric perspective drawings. 

lig. — A tool, or fixture used as a guide for cutting tools where 
duplicate parts are made by a machine. 

lobber. — A man who buys in large quantities for the manu- 
facturer and sells them to wholesalers or retailers. 

Key. — A tapering wedge for fastening the collar of a wheel on a 
part of a shaft. 

Litigation. — Law suits. 

Low Voltage Currents. — (1) Currents having a pressure up to 
500 volts. (2) Ordinary battery and lighting currents are 
low voltage. 

Machine Design. — The scientific designing of machines. 

Math. — Abbreviation for mathematics. 

Maxims, Hiram and Hudson. — Inventors of high explosives, ma- 
chine guns and other things that make for peace in times 
of war, and make for war in times of peace. 

Mechanical Movement. — (1) The simplest form of a machine. 
(2) A combination of two or more of the mechanical powers. 

Memorandum. — A written outline of an agreement, or a con- 
tract. 

Micawber. — A character in Dickens' David CopperHeld. He was 
never able to get down to anything but was always waiting 
for something to turn up. 

Model. — (1) An object or a device made to represent an ap- 
paratus or a machine. (2) A device made to show how an 
apparatus or a machine works. (3) Scale models are smaller 
than the machines they represent and may be built either to 



258 



APPENDICES 



show how the finished apparatus will appear or they may be 

actual working models. 
Monopoly. — The sole right to make, use and sell an invention or 

the product of an invention. 
Notary Public. — A commissioned official who holds a seal of 

his office and who certifies papers, etc. 
Oath. — A sworn statement of the truth. 
Operate. — (i) To put into motion. (2) To do mechanical work. 

(See Actuate.) 
Ozone. — A colorless gas formed by discharging electricity 

through the air or oxygen. 
Paper patent. — >A patent granted by the patent office for an 

idea that has never been worked out in practice. 
Part. — A small portion of a device or a machine. 
Par value. — The full, or face value. 
Patent attorney. — A lawyer who makes patent law his business or 

ought to. 
Patent Expert. — One who is specially trained in an art or a 

science which enables him to give expert testimony in patent 

causes. 
Patent Office. — (1) The building in which the patent business of 

the government is transacted. (2) The office conducted by 

the government for handling of its patent business. (3) 

The patent office of the U. S. is one of the bureaus of the 

Department of the Interior and it is under the direction of 

a commissioner of patents. 
Patent Examiner. — One who examines and passes on patents in 

the patent office. 
Patentee. — The one to whom a patent is granted. 
Periphery. — (1) The circumference of a circle. (2) The outer 

surface of a wheel. 
Perspective Drawing. — See Drawing, Perspective. 
Perspective, Isometric. — See Isometric Perspective. 
Philosophy. — (1) The science of all natural laws. (2) The laws, 

causes and principles on which facts can be explained. 

(See Psychology.) 
Precision. — (1) The state of being very accurate. (2) Said of 

any instrument or machine which works with exactness. 
Principle. — A truth or cause. 
Priority. — Being first. 
Protractor. — An instrument for laying off and measuring angles 

by degrees. 



APPENDICES 259 

Prosecute. — To follow up until a conclusion is reached. 

Pro Rata. — In proportion. 

Psychological moment. — The exact time to impress the mind in 
the best way. 

Psychology. — (1) A branch of philosophy. (2) The science of 
the mind and its operations. 

Ramifications. — Subdivisions of a subject or branches of a 
thing. 

Reaction. — A turbine wheel turned by steam forced from it 
against the air. 

Rectify. — (1) To make right whatever is wrong. (2) To make 
a direct current of an alternating current. 

Rectangle. — A four sided plane with right angle corners. 

Reject. — To refuse to accept, as to reject a claim in a patent. 

Retainer. — The advance fee paid to an attorney. 

Retailer. — A man who buys in small quantities and sells piece- 
meal to consumers. 

Royalty.— A share of the profits paid to the owner of a 
patented article or a device by those whom he allows to 
make or use it. 

Scale. — A piece of wood, metal or other material with graduated 
lines on it and used for measuring. 

Securities. — ■ Property of any kind which has enough value to 
keep the credit good. 

Semi-circle. — (1) Half of a circle. (2) A segment of a circle 
equal to 180 degrees. 

Shares. — (1) The equal parts of the capital stock of a com- 
pany. (2) The shares are represented by certificates. 

Shareholder. — 'An owner of the shares of stock of a company. 

Shop-right license. — A legal permit given to the owner of a 
shop to make and sell a patented article or device. 

Sketch. — A crude picture. 

Standardise. — To make a device or a machine to conform to a 
certain type. 

Stockholder. — An owner of the shares of the stock in a com- 
pany. 

Stock. — (1) The shares of a company which represent its capital. 
(2) Goods traded in for a profit. (3) The raw materials 
used for manufacturing purposes. (4) The manufactured 
goods that are held in reserve. 

St. Elmo's Fire. — An electric glow which is often seen at the 
end of a spar of a ship at night. 

Synthesis. — To combine chemical elements to form a compound. 



260 APPENDICES 

Synthetic. — A chemically prepared substance which is exactly 
like that found in nature, as synthetic camphor, synthetic 
sapphires, etc. 

Technical Expert. — See Patent expert. 

Transfer of Energy. — Changing the energy of one body to 
another body. 

Transformation of Energy.— Changing the form of energy, as 
from electricity to magnetism, or from heat to light. 

Transactions, or Proceedings. — The published reports of scien- 
tific and other societies. 

Treasury stock. — The shares that belong to the company and 
which are used to provide it with working capital. 

Trustees. — About the same thing as directors. 

Tungsten. — A steel gray metallic element. 

Tyro. — A beginner. 

Useful art. — Anything which' requires ingenuity to fashion, and 
which can be used for some good purpose. 

Valid. — (i) That which holds good. (2) A patent that is 
founded on fact and in law. 

Who's Who. — A red book of noted men and women living in 
the United States. 

Wholesaler. — One who buys and sells in large quantities. 

Wing. — The main or supporting plane of an aeroplane. 

Working Drawing, ,— See Drawing, Working. 



INDEX 



Acetylene gas, 16, 89 
Action of patent office, 125 
Advertising for agents, 167 
Advertising campaign, 173 

How to start an, 179 
Advertising, classified, 169 
Displayed, 177 
Stereotyped copy, 178 
Advertising an inventor's job, 

Advertising patent attorneys, 

Advertising versus publicity, 

175 

Aeroplane, 43 

Inventing, 215 

State of the art of, 52 
Agent, manufacturer's, 170 
Agents, advertising for, 167 

Selling through sales, 171 
Agreement, form of an inven- 
tion, 133 
Air brake, invention of the, 

205 
Alternating current generator, 

77 
Alloys, some useful, 240 
Aluminum, 16, 89 
Amending the specification and 

claims, 118, 125 
Ammeter, 83 
Appendices, 229 
Applying for a patent, 117 
Archives of patent office, 126 
Arc lamps, 79 

Assignment, patent, 134, 217 
Atoms and molecules, 61 
Attorneys, advertising patent, 

48 
Automobile, invention of the, 

209 



261 



Ball bearings, 61 

Band saw, 158 

Battery, 76 

Bell, Alexander, telephone in- 
ventor, 206 

Bell telephone, 56, 206 

Bentley and Knight, trolley 
line inventors, 211 

Berliner, Emile, graphophone 
inventor, 207 

Bessemer, Henry, inventor 
of cheap steel process, 
204 

Board of examiners-in-chief, 
127 

Book, 
of account, 140 
on electro-chemistry, 90 
of mechanical movements. 

69 
Minute, 141 

on modern views of elec- 
tricity, 75 
on Physics, 69 
Stock certificate, 141 
Stock ledger, 142 
Stock transfer, 141 
on Chemistry, 88 
on Wireless, 82 
Bourseul, Charles, telephone 

inventor, 205 
Branca, steam turbine inven- 
tor, 209 
Brokers who advertise, 136 
Brush, dynamo inventor, 46 
Buffing machine, 156 
Bullock, printing press inven- 
tor, 203 
Business ability in inventing, 

131 
Buying machine tools, 150 



262 



INDEX 



Calcium carbide, 16, 89 

Carborundum, 16, 89 

Carre, Ferdinand, ice machine 

inventor, 204 
Capital, how to enlist, 135 
Stock, 139 

of a stock company, 138 
Cardboard models, uses of, 42 
Casting in brass and iron, no 
Castings compared with wood, 

237 
Caveats, 217 
Certificate of incorporation, 

139 

Chemical apparatus, 87 

Chemicals and their common 
names, 249 

Chemical compounds, invent- 
ing, 14 

Chemical elements and their 
symbols, 248 

Chemical equipment for ex- 
perimenting, 86 

Chemical inventions, ideas for, 
14 

Chemistry, how to experiment, 
84 
First book on, 7 
Inventions in, 59 

Circularizing, 169 

Claims, amending patent, 118, 
125 
Patent, 49, 117, 122 

Coal tar colors, 89 

Collins, A. Frederick, wireless 
telephone inventor, 215 

Commissioner of Patents, 49, 
116, 125, 127, 218 

Company, see stock company, 
138 

Conferences of associates, 167 

Contracts, about signing, 137 

Copyrights, 221 

Corporation, outfit needed by, 
141 

Corporate seal, 142 

Corporation, see stock com- 
pany, 138 



Correspondent, 47 
Court of Appeals of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, 127 
Cross-sectional drawings, 21 
Current electricity, 74-76 

Daft, Leo, trolley line inventor, 

211 
Davenport, Thomas, electric 

railway inventor, 211 
Davy, safety lamp inventor, 5 
Deductive proof, 6 
De Laval, steam turbine inven- 
tor, 209 
Depreciation of machinery, 164 
Design patents, 216 
Diagrams, how to make elec- 
trical, 39 
Discoveries, accidental, 4 
Discovery of vulcanized rub- 
ber, 4 
Direct current, 76 
Drawing a box, 22 
Drawing, free hand, 19 

Isometric ellipse, 32 

Mechanical, 19 
Drawing paper, isometric, 26 

How to make isometric, 27 
Drawing in perspective, simple 

way, 26 
Drawing a steam engine, 22 
Drawing tools needed, 29 
Drawings, cross-sectional, 21 

Detailed, 21 

How to letter them, 36 

How to make simple work- 
ing, 20 

How to shade them, 36 

Isometric, 122 

in perspective, isometric, 20, 
25, 26 

Rules for patent, 117 

Scale, 19-21 

Some aids to, 40 

Tools for making simple, 19 

Working, 19 
Drill press, hand, 103 

Pillar type, 153 



INDEX 



263 



Dynamo electric machine, 45 
Dynamo and motor, invention 
of the, 205 

Eastman, Charles, kodak in- 
ventor, 131, 208 
Edison, 5, 46, 131, 180, 206, 207, 

210, 213 
Efficiency in manufacture, 147 
Electric, 

Alternating current, 77 

Battery, 88 

Bell, 13 

Block signal system, 58 

Condenser, 75 

Current, 76 

Direct current, 76 

Furnace, 88 

Induction, 75 

Interrupted direct current, 
76 

Locomotive, invention of the, 
212 

Motors, individual, 157 

Power, 148 

Pulsating direct current, 76 

Railway, invention of the, 
211 

Smelting, 89 

Waves, 75 
Electrical, 

Diagrams, how to make, 39 

Equipment for experiment- 
ing, 82 

Invention ideas, for, 11 

Symbols, how to make, 36 

Symbols, terms and formu- 
las, 242 

Units, 242 
Electricity, current, 74 

Forms of, 74 

How to experiment with, 74 

Static, 74-75 
Electro-chemical inventions, 

ideas for, 15 
Electro-chemistry, how to ex- 
periment with, 88 

Inventions in, 59, 89 



Electrolysis, 89 
Electromagnet, 13, 78 

Plunger, 79 

Waves, 79 
Electro-mechanioal devices, 80 
Electro-mechanical inventions, 

ideas for, 13 
Electroplating, 88 
Electrotyping, 88 
Electrolytic repairing of cop- 
per, 16, 89 
Ellipose, drawing an, 32-34 
Employee's patent agreement, 

99 
Energy, 59 
Energy, 

Forms of, 61 

of motion, 60 

of position, 60 
Ether, 75 

Energy of, 62 
Evidence of conception, 18, 113 
Examiner of interferences, 

126 
Examiner, patent office, 50 
Experiment, how to, 58 

With machines, how to, 59 

Working out ideas by, 7 

With electro-chemistry, how 
to, 88 
Experimenting, value of, 7 
Experts, technical patent, 128 

Faraday, dynamo inventor, 3, 

.45 
Flying machine, helicopter, 94 
Follow-up letters, 170 
Foreign patents, 
Dominion of Canada, Great 

Britain, 224 
France and Colonies, Ger- 
many and Colonies, Aus- 
tria and Hungary, Bel- 
gium, Spain, Italy, Russia, 
Denmark, 225 
Norway and Sweden, Swit- 
zerland, Portugal and Tur- 
key, 226 



264 



INDEX 



Holland, India, Australian 
Commonwealth, Japan and 
China, Africa, Central 
America, West Indies, 
South America, 226 

Fulton, Robert, steamboat in- 
ventor, 202 

Ford, Henry, greatest automo- 
bile manufacturer in the 
world, 210 

Free-hand drawing, 19 

Friction, reducing, 236 
Work against, 61 

Finishing your product, 162 



Gas engine, invention of the, 
204 

Gas furnace, 150 

Gears and gearing, 238 

Genius versus college profes- 
sors, s 

Government monopoly, 112, 
127 

Gramme, dynamo inventor, 205 

Graphophone, invention of the, 
207 

Grinder, 151 

Gyro-compass, 13, 18 

Gyro-motor for aeroplane, 43 

Hall of Fame, New York Uni- 
versity, 203 
Progress and civilization, 203 
Heat, 61 

Helicopter, flying machine, 94 
Hero, steam turbine inventor, 

208 
High frequency, 
Alternators, 78 
Currents, 12, 75 
Machine, 162 
Hiring and firing men, 161 
Hoe Brothers, printing press 

inventors, 203 
Howe, Elias, sewing machine 

inventor, 56, 203 
Hydro-electric power, 149 



Ice machine, invention of the, 

204 
Idea, 

The big, 181 

Factory, 180 

First raw, 3, 6 

Getting an, 1 

How to get an, 1 

of an inventive genius, 2 

Protecting your, 97 

What it is, 2 

Where it originates, 3 
Ideas, 

For chemical inventions, 14 

For electrical inventions, 11 

For electro-chemical inven- 
tions, 15 

For electro-mechanical in- 
ventions, 13 

For inventions in general, 9 

Kinds of, 3 

For mechanical inventions, 9 

Protecting raw ideas, 16 

Thought out, 6 

Working out on paper, 19 
Incandescent light, invention 

of the, 210 
Inclined plane, 63 
Index of the patent office, 53 
individual electric motors, 

157 
Induction coil, 76 
Inductive discovery, 3 
Infra-red waves, 75, 79 
Infringement suit, 18 
Infringers of patents, 127 
Initial funds, how to raise, 132 
Interferences, 126 
Interruptor, 76 
Improvements needed, 181 
Iron ore, reduction of, 90 
Invent, 

What to, 180 

What not to, 197 
Inventing, 

Chemical compounds, 14 

Secret of, 180 

As a vooation, 131 



INDEX 



265 



Invention, 
Agreement, form of an, 133 
Guardian angel of, 7 
Heroes of, 200 
How to patent your, 112 
Keeping an interest in, 133 
Manufacturing an, 146 
Pay, making your, 131 
Protecting your, 97, 119 
Record of your, 18 
Of the sewing machine, 56 
Of the wardrobe trunk, 4 
What it consists of, 118 

Inventions, 

In chemistry, 59 
In electro-chemistry, 59, 89 
In general, ideas for, 9 
Great, and what they paid, 

203 
That have paid big, little, 201 
Ideas for chemical, 14 
Ideas for electrical, 11 
Ideas for electro-chemical, 

15 

Ideas for electro-mechanical, 

J 3 

Ideas for mechanical, 9 
Some big, needed, 
Safety first, automobiles, 

187 
Aviation, 188 
Chemistry, 190 
Electricity, 191 
Electro-chemistry, 192 
Building, mining and met- 
allurgy, 193 
Printing, moving pictures, 

195 
Other field of endeavor, 

196 
Needed, 
For the farm, some little, 

183 
For fun, 185 
For the house, 182 
For the office, 184 
For the person, 182 
Protection against theft, 100 



Real, and what they paid, 

202 
Selling small, 167 
Simple, and what they paid, 

202 
What some have paid, 200 

Inventive ability, 131 

Inventive world, tour of, 200 

Inventors, 5 
Self-taught, 5 

Inventor's salary contract, 144 

Isometric, 
Drawing paper, _ 26 
Ellipse, how to draw, 32 
Paper, how to make, 27 
Perspective drawings, 20, 
26, 122 

Jig saw, 157 

Kinetograph, invention of the, 

213 
Kinetoscope, invention of the, 

213 
Kodak camera, invention of 

the, 208 

Lathe, engine, 152 

Foot power, screw cutting, 
103 

Plain, 151 ^ 

Screw cutting, power, 152 
Lawyer, retaining a, 144 
Lever, 63 

Bent, 64 

Compound, 64-65 
Leyden jar, 75 
Light waves, 75 
Light, 79 

Linotype, invention of the, 212 
Lists of consumers, where to' 

buy, 169 
Locomotive, invention of the, 

202 
Lodge, Sir Oliver, 181 

Machine design, 58 



266 



INDEX 



Machine screws and nuts, sizes 

of, 235 
Machine tools, buying, 150 
Machines, commercial uses of, 
62 
Compound, 69 
How to experiment with, 59 
Principles of, 62 
Magnet, electro-, 78 

Permanent steel, 78 
Magnetism, 74, 78 
Magneto-electric machine, 76 
Mail order business, 168 
Marconi, William, wireless 

telegraph inventor, 6, 214 
Manikin for drawing, 40 
Marketing your product, 166 
Mathematical formulas, some 

useful, 231 
Manual of classification, patent 

office, 57 
Manufacture, problem of, 146 
Manufactured product, finished, 

162 
Manufacturer's agent, 170 
Manufactory, locating a, 149 

Starting your own, 148 
Manufacturing your invention, 

146 
Material, buying the raw, 159 
Materials, automatic machine 
made, 107, 159 
Buying, 108 
Raw, 149 
Mechanics, principles of, 58 
Mechanical, 
Drawings, 19 
Inventions, ideas for, 9 
Movements, 58, 69, 70, 71, 72, 

73 

Powers, 59, 63 
Mergenthaler, Ottmar, 212 
Micrometer, 103 

How to read a, 105 
Metric 

Changed to English measure, 

234 
or decimal system, 232 



Measures of length, 233 

Measures of weight, 233 
Milling machine, universal, 156 
Minute book, 140 
Model 

of a British express locomo- 
tive, 95 

Building a, 96 

How to make, 91 

Makers, 97 

Ways to make, 97 
Models 

How to make cardboard, 42 

in Patent Office, 91 

Rough, 91-92 

Scale, 91-92, 95 

Working, 91-92 
Molecules and atoms, 61 
Monopoly, Government, 112, 

127 
Morse, Samuel F. B., telegraph 

inventor, 203 
Moving pictures, invention of 

the, 212 
Muybridge, Eadweard, 213 

Nitric acid of the air, 16, 89 

Oath, patent, 120 

Form of, 124 
Official Gazette of the Patent 

Office, 53, 218 
Ohm's Law, 243 
Organizing a shop force, 160 
Oscillating current, 78 
Otto, N. A., gas engine inven- 
tor, 204 
Overhead charges, 164 

How to figure, 165 
Oxy-Hydrogen furnace, 85 
Ozone of the air, 89 

Page, C. T., electric railway 
inventor, 211 

Parsons, steam, turbine in- 
ventor, 209 

Partner, how to secure, 135- 
136 



INDEX 



267 



Partnership forming a, 135 
Patent 

About an interest in a, 134 

Agreement, Employee's, 99 

Amending claims, 125 

Application, 116 

Application, filing fee for, 
114 

Applying for a, 117 

Applying for your own, 115 

Assignment, 134 ' 

Causes, 128 

Claims, 49, 117, 120, 122 

Claims, Amending, 117 

Claims, narrow, 113 

Copy of a, 125 

Counsel, 128 

Design, 216 

Drawings, 120, 122 

Drawings, rules for, 117 

Final Government fee for, 
114 

Getting a, 51 

is granted, after your, 127 

is granted, when your, 127 

Interferences, 55, 126 

that pended for seven years, 
126 

is pending, while your, 125 

Petition, 120 

Specifications, 49, 53, 117, 
120, 122 

Suits, 128 

System bubbles, 115 

What it consists of, 112, 120 

What you may, 118 
Patentee, 127 

Patenting your invention, 112 
Patent attorneys, 

Catching your, 115 

Flat-rate fee for, 114 

Judgment of, 118 

Retaining a, 47 

Temptation of, 115 
Patent attorneys, 54, 126, 127 

Advertising, 48, 113 

Choosing a, 112 

High-grade, 114 



Least charges of, 224 

Watching, 117 
Patent examiner, 50, 91, 114, 
US 

Versus inventors discontent, 
126 

and sewing machine needle, 
56 

Sub-cellar, 51 

Methods, 125 
Patent experts, technical, 128 
Patent oath, 120, 124 
Patent office, 

Action, 125 

Archives, 126 

Citing references, 117 

Citations, 125 

Fees, 217 

Index, S3 

Manual of classification, 57 

Official Gazette, 53 

Red tape, 126 

Rejection of claims, 117 

Rules of practice of, 116 
Patent office search, a desk, 
48 

a free, 48 

a special, 48 

Preliminary, 49 
Patents 

Foreign, 224 
See foreign patents 

Paper, 130 

Number granted each year, 
118 
Patterns, complicated, no 

Making, 108 
Perpetual motion, 62, JJ, 199 
Perspective drawings, 25 

Isometric, 20, 26 
Perspective, simple way to 

draw in, 26 
Petition, patent, 120 
Philosophy, 3, 6 
Phonograph, invention of the, 

207 
Physics, first book on, 7 
Planer, 154 



268 



INDEX 



Plante, Gaston, storage battery 

inventor, 208 
Power, 59, 65 

Protractor, how to use it, 31 
Protecting raw ideas, 16 
Preliminary search, 47 
Printing press, perfecting, in- 
vention of the, 203 
Priority, 16 

Profits, how to figure, 165 
Promoter, ordinary, 137 

Professional, 100 

Real, 137 

Tin-horn, 137 

Where he comes in, 136 
Pseudotriakis, microdon, 113 
Publicity, how to get it, 175 
Pulley, 63 



Radiation, 74, 79 
Reading helps, 6 
References, Patent Office cit- 
ing, 117 
Register of copyrights, 221 
Reis, Johanne Phillip, tele- 
phone inventor, 205 
Resistance bridge, 83 
Rights, selling invention, 135 
Ro, a universal language, 50 
Roosevelt, 115 
Royalties on inventions, 135 
Rubber, discovery of, 4 
Rules of practice, 120, 135, 218 



Saving the watchword, 194 
Scale drawings, 19, 21 
Screw, 63 

Theory of the, 68 
Seal, corporate, 142 
Seal Press, 142 
Search, a desk patent office, 48 

Free patent, 48, 113 

Preliminary Patent Office, 49 

Special Patent Office, 49 
Selden, George B., daddy of the 
automobile, 209 



Selling direct to the consumer, 

172 
Selling goods, basic principles 

of, 166 
Selling through sales agents, 

171 
Selling the stock issue of a 

company, 147 
Selling through the trade, 174 
Sewing machine, invention of 

the, 203 
Sewing machine needle, 56 
Shaper, 155 

Shop force, organizing a, 160 
Shop foreman, hiring a, 160 
Shop rights, selling, 135 
Shop, starting your own, 148 
Shrinkage of castings, in 
Siemens, dynamo inventor, 204 
Snap-shot camera, invention 

of the, 208 
Solders, hard, 241 
Solenoid, 13, 79 
Spark-coil, 76 
Specifications, patent, 53 
Starr, J. W., incandescent 

lamp inventor, 210 
Standardizing your product, 

159 
Static electricity, 74-75 
Specification, amending the, 
118 
Patent, 49, 117 
State of the art, 45 
Having a patent attorney 

look it un, 47 
How to learn the, 46 
How to look it up, 47, 51 
Use of the, 46 
What it means, 45 
Steam boat, invention of the, 

202 
Steam engine, drawing of a, 
22 
Invention of the, 202 
Steam turbine, invention of 

the, 208 
Steel, high speed, 244 



INDEX 



269 



Steel process, invention of the, 
204 

Stephenson, locomotive inven- 
tor, 202 

Stock certificate, 141 

Stock certificate book, 141 

Stock company, fees for in- 
corporating, 140 
How it is operated, 142 
How to organize a, 139 

Stock ledger, 142 

Stock full paid, 143 

Stock room, 161 

Stock of a company, selling 
the, 144 

Stock transfer book, 11 

Stock, treasury, 143 

Stock company, what it is, 138 

Storage battery, invention of 
the, 208 

Supreme Court, U. S., 112 

Symbols, how to make elec- 
trical, 36 

Synthetic gems, 85 

Taps and dies, sizes of, 235 
Telautograph, 13, 17 
Telegraph, invention of the, 

203 
Telegraph sounder, 13 
Telephone, Bell, 56 

Invention of the, 205 
Telephone transmitter, 76 
Territorial rights, 135 
Tesla, dynamo inventor, 46 
Thermometer scales, four 

chief, 251 
Things are money, 201 
Thompson, dynamo inventor, 

46 
Thoughts are things, 201 
Thurber, Charles, typewriter 

inventor, 207 
Time stamp, Thompson, 161 
Tools, useful jewelers and 

machinists, 101 
Tour of the inventive world, 

200 



Trade marks, 220 

Transfer tax law, 141 

Treasury stocks, 143 

Trolley car and line inven- 
tion of the, 211 

Twining, ice machine inventor, 
204 

Twist drills, sizes of, 235 

Typewriter, invention of the, 
207 

Ultra violet waves, 75, 79 
United States patent, 127 
United States Patent Office, 47, 

.135 
United States Supreme Court, 

112 
Unit of work, 60 
Universal milling machine, 156 

Van Depoele, C. J., trolley line 

inventor, 211 
Velocity, 60 
Vernier, 103 

Vernier, how to read a, 103 
Violet ray machine, 162 
Vibrator, 76 
Voltmeter, 83 

Watt, James, steam engine in- 
ventor, 202 

Wedge, 63 

What not to invent, 197 

Wheatstone, Charles, tele- 
phone inventor, 206 

Wheel and axle, 63 

Weston, dynamo inventor, 46 

Westinghouse, air brake in- 
ventor, 131, 205 

Wilde, dynamo inventor, 204 

Winding machine, 83 

Wire 
Gage, how to use a, 106 
Number, length, weight and 
resistance of pure copper, 
244, 245 
Prices of insulated magnet, 
247 



270 



INDEX 



Number of turns that can be 

wound in a given space, 

246 
Wiring diagrams, how to 

make, 39 
Wireless telegraph, invention 

of the, 214 
Wireless telephone, 12 
Wireless telephone, invention 

of the, 215 



Wireless waves, 75 

Words and terms used in this 

book, 253 
Work, 59 

Energy and power, 60 

Farming it out, 147 

Unit of, 60 
Working drawings, 19 
Wright brothers, aeroplane in- 
ventors, 215 






